Material supply support device, method and program

Abstract

The aspect of the present invention, when performing processing to support a task of supplying goods to a first set of locations using a transportation medium, acquires parameter information related to the supply of the goods at the first set of locations and between each of the locations, determines, on the basis of the acquired parameter information, a number of abandonment locations at which the supply of the goods is abandoned so as to minimize a depletion time of the goods in the first set of locations and maximize the number of locations to be supplied with the goods, determines a good supply route that minimizes the depletion time of the goods for a second set of locations obtained by excluding a number of locations corresponding to the number of abandonment locations from the first set of locations, and generates and outputs support information including information expressing the good supply route.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] One aspect of the present invention relates to a materials supply support device, method, and program used to support the task of supplying materials to a plurality of locations when a disaster occurs, for example. [Background technology]

[0002] The task of delivering and supplying resources, goods, and other materials to multiple locations using vehicles is an essential task in modern society. In particular, in the event of a large-scale disaster, the task of transporting and supplying power equipment, water, food, and other necessary materials to the demand points using vehicles is extremely important in preventing the depletion of materials at each location.

[0003] However, when the number of supply points is significantly large compared to the number of vehicles, it is inevitable that some points will run out of supplies because the supply cannot keep up. Therefore, for example, Non-Patent Document 1 proposes a technology for supplying supplies by excluding points where supply depletion is unavoidable from the supply route, and determining the route that minimizes the maximum time for the supply to run out at each point as the optimal supply route. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0004] [Non-Patent Document 1] M. Ogawa and 3 others, “A route searching method using two-dimensional coordinates”, IEICE, DOI:10.34385 / proc.63.E4-3, 2020. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, the technology described in Non-Patent Document 1 determines an optimal supply route after excluding points where material depletion is unavoidable. For this reason, there is a tendency for a large number of points to be excluded from the material supply route.

[0006] This invention has been made in light of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to provide a technology that makes it possible to determine a supply route for materials to a location while reducing the number of locations excluded from the supply route as much as possible. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of a materials supply support device or method according to the present invention is to, when performing a process of supporting a task of supplying materials to a first set of points using a transport medium, acquire parameter information related to the first set of points and the supply of the materials between each of the first set of points, and determine a number of points to be abandoned for abandoning the supply of the materials so that the time to run out of the materials in the first set of points is minimized and the number of points to be supplied with the materials is maximized based on the acquired parameter information, and then, for a second set of points obtained by excluding a number of points from the first set of points equivalent to the number of points to be abandoned, a materials supply route that minimizes the time to run out of the materials is determined, and support information including information representing the materials supply route is generated and output.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, when determining an optimal route for supplying materials, the number of points to be abandoned is first determined so as to minimize the number of points to be abandoned, and an optimal supply route for materials is determined with a number of points equivalent to the determined number of points as points to be abandoned. Therefore, it is possible to determine an optimal supply route that does not cause a shortage of materials while minimizing the number of points to be abandoned. Effect of the Invention

[0009] That is, according to one aspect of the present invention, a technology can be provided that makes it possible to determine a supply route for a material to a demand point while reducing the number of demand points excluded from the supply route as much as possible. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a material supply support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the software configuration of the material supply support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the overall processing procedure and processing contents of the material supply support control executed by the control unit of the material supply support apparatus shown in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a process and a process content of a process for determining the number of triage points among the process steps shown in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure and contents of the optimum route determination process from the procedure shown in FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of travel time between points. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process for determining triage candidates. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an example of determining an optimal route. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0012] [One embodiment] (Configuration example) The materials supply support device SV according to an embodiment of the present invention is, for example, a server computer and is located on the web or in the cloud. Note that the materials supply support device SV may also be a personal computer used exclusively by a local government or a delivery company.

[0013] 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing an example of the hardware configuration and software configuration, respectively, of the material supply support device SV.

[0014] The material supply support device SV includes a control unit 1 using a hardware processor such as a central processing unit (CPU). A storage unit having a program storage unit 2 and a data storage unit 3, and a communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as communication I / F unit) 4 are connected to the control unit 1 via a bus 5.

[0015] Under the control of the control unit 1, the communication I / F unit 4 uses a communication protocol defined by a network (not shown) including the Internet to send and receive information data, for example, between a management terminal used by a local government or delivery company, or between a vehicle terminal installed in a vehicle used as a transportation medium.

[0016] The program storage unit 2 is configured, for example, by combining a non-volatile memory such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid State Drive) as a storage medium that can be written to and read from at any time, and a non-volatile memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), and stores application programs necessary for executing various control processes related to one embodiment of the present invention, in addition to middleware such as an OS (Operating System).

[0017] The data storage unit 3 is, for example, a combination of a non-volatile memory such as an HDD or SSD as a storage medium that can be written to and read from at any time, and a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), and includes a parameter information storage unit 31 and an optimal route information storage unit 32 as storage areas in one embodiment.

[0018] The parameter information storage unit 31 is used to store parameter information input from a management terminal of a local government or a delivery company. The parameter information includes multiple locations to which supplies are to be supplied and attribute information related to the supply of the supplies between the locations. The attribute information includes, for example, location information of each location, expected travel time between each location, and expected stay time at each location.

[0019] The optimum route information storage unit 32 is used to store optimum route information indicating the optimum delivery route determined by the control unit 1.

[0020] The control unit 1 includes, as processing functions according to an embodiment of the present invention, a parameter information acquisition processing unit 11, a triage point number determination processing unit 12, an optimal route determination processing unit 13, and a support information output processing unit 14. All of these processing units 11 to 14 are realized by causing a hardware processor of the control unit 1 to execute an application program stored in the program storage unit 2.

[0021] A part or all of the processing sections 11 to 14 may be realized using hardware such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

[0022] Prior to the delivery of goods, the parameter information acquisition processing unit 11 receives parameter information sent via a network from, for example, a management terminal of a local government or a delivery company via the communication I / F unit 4, and performs a process of storing the received parameter information in the parameter information storage unit 31.

[0023] The triage point number determination processing unit 12 performs a process of determining the number of points at which the supply of materials must be abandoned (triage) based on the parameter information stored in the parameter information storage unit 31. An example of the process of determining the number of triage points will be described in detail in the operation example.

[0024] The optimum route determination processing unit 13 determines which specific points are to be abandoned according to the determined number of triage points. Then, for the set of supply target points excluding the abandoned points, the optimum delivery route that minimizes the time required for depletion of materials is determined, and information representing the determined optimum route is stored in the optimum route information storage unit 32. An example of the optimum route determination process will also be described in detail in the operation example.

[0025] The support information output processing unit 14 generates information to support the supply of goods, including the optimal route information stored in the optimal route information storage unit 32, and performs processing to transmit the generated support information from the communication I / F unit 4 to, for example, a management terminal of a local government or delivery company, or a terminal installed in a delivery vehicle.

[0026] (Example of operation) Next, an example of the operation of the material supply support device SV configured as above will be described. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of a materials supply support operation executed by the control unit 1 of the materials supply support device SV.

[0027] (1) Obtaining parameter information In the event of a disaster, for example, a local government or a delivery company identifies all points where supplies need to be supplied, and inputs parameter information including the location information of each point, the estimated travel time between each point, the estimated stay time at each point, etc., into a management terminal. Then, the parameter information is transmitted from the management terminal to the supplies supply support device SV via a network (not shown).

[0028] In response to this, in step S10, the control unit 1 of the material supply support device SV, under the control of the parameter information acquisition processing unit 11, receives the parameter information transmitted from the management terminal via the communication I / F unit 4, and stores the received parameter information in the parameter information memory unit 31.

[0029] For example, there are n+1 points on a two-dimensional plane that represents the disaster area. Let v be the number of points. i ,i∈{0,1,…,n},n∈Z. In this case, for each point v i Position information on a two-dimensional plane (e.g., latitude and longitude information), for each point v i The expected travel time t(v i ,v j )∈R >0 , remaining time d at time t=0 i ∈R >0 , expected stay time at each point p i ∈R >0 , are inputted into the management terminal, and this information is sent to the material supply support device SV and stored in the parameter information storage unit 31.

[0030] (2) Determining the number of triage points When the above parameter information is acquired, first, in step S20, the control unit 1 of the supplies supply support device SV executes a process for determining the number of triage points under the control of the triage point number determination processing unit 12 as follows.

[0031] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure and processing content of a number of triage points determination process executed by the number of triage points determination processing unit 12.

[0032] (2-1) Selecting the route with the shortest maximum exhaustion time First, in step S21, the triage point number determination processing unit 12 defines all routes that can be set for all points of the supply target as a first set of points, and calculates the maximum depletion time of the material for each of the defined routes.

[0033] For example, when one vehicle moves between each location via route r, the arrival time a i at each location v i (r) and the depletion time T i (r) of the supplies are

Number

[0034] Then, since the maximum value of each T i is the maximum depletion time given by route r, when the maximum depletion time is obtained for all routes, the minimum value

Number

Number

[0035] At this time, if the maximum depletion time T* of the defined optimal route is negative, it is possible to supply supplies to all locations before depletion. On the other hand, when the maximum depletion time T* is positive, it is necessary to set a location to abandon the supply of supplies.

[0036] (2-2) Definition of the range of the optimal value of the depletion time Therefore, the triage location number determination processing unit 12 first defines a plurality of candidates for the number of locations to be abandoned in step S23, and estimates the range of values that the optimal value of the depletion time takes for each of these numbers of locations.

[0037] That is, the triage location number determination processing unit 12 sets the optimal value when abandoning k (<n) locations as T*k, and defines the range as

Number

[0038] (2-3) Calculating the optimal range of the number of sites to be abandoned Next, in steps S24 and S25, the triage point number determination processing unit 12 determines an upper limit value MAX that satisfies the optimal range of the number of points to be abandoned. k and lower limit MIN k are calculated respectively.

[0039] Basically, the above upper limit MAX k and lower limit MIN k The value of decreases as the value of k increases. Therefore, the triage point number determination processing unit 12 calculates the closed interval [MIN k ,MAX k The number of locations to be abandoned is determined in order of the probability that ] contains a neighborhood of 0.

[0040] (2-3-1) Upper limit MAX k Calculation of Let S be the set of points obtained by discarding k points from n points. k Let S be a set k Let R be the set of routes that visit all points in k Let R be a set k Element r of k Select appropriately,

number

[0041] (2-3-2) Lower limit value MIN k Calculation of Lower limit MIN k Mitigation issues apply to the calculation of The triage point number determination processing unit 12 discards any k points from the n points to obtain a set of (nk) points, which is called S^ k :={(nk) points}, and S^ k The set of locations S included in k ∈S^ k The set of all paths that visit all k :={R k}. Then, the triage point number determination processing unit 12

number

[0042] Specifically, a certain S k By consolidating all the elements of the above into one suitable point and visiting this point in the optimal order,

number

[0043] First, a method for calculating the exhaustion time at a location will be described. Arbitrarily set the points to aggregate the points. At this time, d i ,p i The method for calculating the visiting order and the maximum exhaustion time on the points is explained. The points aggregated into one point are called v′1,…,v′ h , (h=nk), and let f denote the function that converts the indices of these points into point indices on the original two-dimensional plane.

[0044] For example, if point v′1 is point v′ j If so, f(1) = j, the remaining time and required stay time are d′ i ,p′ i If (i≦h), the remaining time d′ i teeth

number

[0045] Also, at each point v′ iWhen moving between locations, no travel time is incurred because the coordinates are the same, but there is a period of time (idle time) when a vehicle is unable to supply goods between the time it finishes supplying goods to one location and the time it starts supplying goods to the next location. This idle time reflects the travel time on a two-dimensional plane. Therefore, the size of the idle time depends on the operation of a vehicle that has finished supplying goods and moves to the next location to supply goods.

[0046] Now, the vehicle is at point v′ j If you are trying to supply supplies to, set the idle time to t j Then, this idle time t j teeth

number

[0047] The route that minimizes the maximum exhaustion time at a point is p′, which is the sum of the sojourn time and the exhaustion time. i +d′ i This can be easily shown because the optimal decision to minimize the delivery tardiness in a scheduling problem is equivalent to processing jobs in the order of shortest delivery dates.

[0048] Now, p′ i +d′ i The maximum exhaustion time of the route to be visited in ascending order of L b (R k ), then the maximum depletion time L b (R k ) teeth

number

[0049] Therefore,

number

number

[0050] The exhaustion time of the last visited point Last(R k )teeth,

number

[0051] Therefore, the minimum exhaustion time of the last visited point is

number

number

number

[0052] That is,

number

number

[0053] (2-4) Estimation of the number of triage points Next, in steps S26 to S28, the triage point number determination processing unit 12 determines an upper limit value MAX k and lower limit MIN k Based on this, the number of triage points k is estimated as follows:

[0054] That is, x∈[MIN k ,MAX k If the probability of the optimum value existing in the range of , follows the probability distribution function f(x), then the probability that the optimum value exists in the vicinity of 0 (below |ε|) is P k teeth,

number

[0055] Here, let us set ε and the function f(x) appropriately and set the probability P k However, if the optimal value does not exist near 0 as is, there are two possible cases: the maximum depletion time is too large or too small. If k is larger than 0, it is necessary to exclude it from the candidates for the number of sites to be abandoned.

[0056] Therefore, the suitability score is used as a candidate for the number of locations to be abandoned. k of

number

[0057] (3) Determining the optimal route Next, in step S30, the control unit 1 of the material supply support device SV calculates an optimal route for material supply under the control of the optimal route determination processing unit 13. Note that the following description will be given taking as an example a case where the branch and bound method is used as the determination method.

[0058] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure and contents of the optimum route determination process executed by the optimum route determination processing unit 13. As shown in FIG.

[0059] (3-1) Determination of the site to be abandoned When the branch and bound method is used, the optimal route determination processing unit 13 first defines a set σ consisting of all feasible solutions in step S31, and then divides this set σ into an appropriate subset, σ i ⊂σ,∪ i σ i =σ,σ i ∩σ j =φ(i≠j) Divide by.

[0060] (3-1-1) Deciding on a set of locations to abandon In this example, the solution to the optimization problem is a set of points, so the optimal route determination processing unit 13 selects a subset σ i Let v be one of k points. i is defined as a set of points to be abandoned. Then, in steps S32 and S33, the optimal route determination processing unit 13 determines the set of points σ i The upper and lower limits of the smallest maximum exhaustion time among all the routes that visit are calculated as follows:

[0061] That is, the optimum route determination processing unit 13 first determines the upper limit value by selecting the k points other than the k points including the specified point among the points that have not yet been visited, and the remaining time d i T of the routes visited in ascending order of max (r) is calculated and this is the upper limit.

[0062] Next, the optimal route determination processing unit 13 aggregates the points that have not yet been visited, other than the k points including the specified point, into an arbitrary point, and selects T of the routes that are visited in order of the smallest sum of the stay time and exhaustion time at the point. max (r) is calculated and this is the lower limit.

[0063] Next, in step S34, the optimal route determination processing unit 13 divides two different solution sets σi ,σ j Select these solution sets σ i ,σ j For one solution set σ i The upper limit of and the other solution set σ j Then, in step S35, the solution set σ i From the upper limit of j It is determined whether the lower limit value of is larger.

[0064] As a result of the above comparison, the set σ i From the upper limit of the set σ j If the lower limit of is large, the optimal route determination processing unit 13 selects the set σ j It is determined that the feasible solutions included in the set σ cannot be the optimal solution, and the search for this set is abandoned in step S37. i The upper limit of the set σ j If it is greater than the lower limit value, the optimum route determination processing unit 13 stores the point specified by the set as a candidate for supply of the material in step S36.

[0065] Then, the optimal route determination processing unit 13 determines each set σ i In step S38, it is determined whether the number of points specified by has reached k, and the processes in steps S31 to S38 are repeated until the number of points specified reaches k.

[0066] (3-2) Determining the optimal route When the number of specified points reaches k, the optimum route determination processing unit 13 proceeds to step S39 and performs processing for determining the optimum route.

[0067] That is, the optimum route determination processing unit 13 calculates the optimum route and the maximum exhaustion time for each of all the non-abandoned point sets when they are abandoned. Then, the optimum route is determined to be the route with the shortest maximum exhaustion time, and information representing this optimum route is stored in the optimum route information storage unit 32.

[0068] (4) Output of support information Finally, in step S40, the control unit 1 of the material supply support device SV, under the control of the support information output processing unit 14, reads out information representing the optimum route from the optimum route information storage unit 32, and generates support information including the information representing the read optimum route. In addition to the optimum route information, the support information includes information specifying the type and amount of material, road congestion information, weather information, etc. The road congestion information and weather information can be obtained, for example, from a website on the Web.

[0069] (Example of operation) Next, a specific example of the processing operation described above will be explained. Let us assume that the points in the disaster area are v0, v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, and v6. Let us also assume that the remaining time until supplies run out at the supply target points v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, and v6 are d1=7, d2=9, d3=8, d4=8, d5=8, and d6=9, respectively, and the stay time for supply at each point is p1=5, p2=3, p3=4, p4=4, p5=4, and p6=3, respectively. FIG. 6 shows an example of travel time between each point in this case, in hours [h].

[0070] First, determine the number of potential triage points. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a process for determining triage candidates. Let us assume that the probability distribution function f(x) is a normal distribution with a mean of (MAXi + MINi) / 2 and a standard deviation of (|MAXi + MINi |) / 4, and that the vicinity of 0 is |ε|=0.5 or less.

[0071] In this state, if we calculate the range of the minimum value of the maximum depletion time when the number of points to be abandoned is set to 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, the upper and lower limits will be the values ​​shown in Figure 7. If we apply the above conditions to these calculated values, the probability P k Both are 0.

[0072] From the above results, in this example, the number of abandoned points is determined to be three as the first candidate, and four as the second candidate, as candidates for the number of triage points.

[0073] Next, the optimum route is determined by reflecting the number of triage points. For example, if the number of triage points is set to three, which is the first candidate, then among all routes that supply supplies to the three target points, the route with the shortest maximum depletion time is: v0 → v4 → v2 → v6 The maximum depletion time for this route is 0 or less. Therefore, in this case, there is no need to calculate the second candidate number of triage points, which is four, and the process of determining the optimal route ends here. Figure 8 shows an example of the determined optimal route shown on a two-dimensional plane.

[0074] (Action and effect) As described above, in one embodiment, for multiple points to be supplied with materials, a route that minimizes the maximum depletion time of the materials is identified from multiple material supply routes that can be set for each point based on parameter information including previously given location information, stay time at each point, and travel time between points, and if there is a point on this route where the supply of materials is to be abandoned, an optimal range for the number of points is obtained and candidates for the number of points to be abandoned are determined within this range. Next, which points are to be abandoned among the determined candidates for the number of points to be abandoned, and an optimal delivery route that minimizes the depletion time of the materials is determined for the set of supply points other than the points to be abandoned, and the determined optimal route is output.

[0075] Therefore, when determining the optimal route for supplying materials, the number of points to be abandoned is first calculated so as to minimize the number of points to be abandoned, and the optimal supply route for materials is determined with points corresponding to this number as the points to be abandoned. Therefore, it is possible to determine the optimal supply route that does not cause shortage of materials while minimizing the number of points to be abandoned.

[0076] In addition, when determining the number of points to be abandoned, the range of the maximum depletion time is calculated for each number of points to be abandoned, and candidates for the number of points to be abandoned are selected in order of the probability that this range contains 0. As a result, it is possible to determine the optimal route with the fewest number of points to be abandoned and the shortest maximum depletion time from among multiple candidates for the number of points to be abandoned.

[0077] [Other embodiments] In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which a series of processes from the parameter acquisition process to the support information output process are all executed on one server device. However, all or part of the series of processes from the parameter acquisition process to the support information output process may be distributed and processed by a plurality of server devices or information processing terminals such as personal computers.

[0078] In the above embodiment, the case where supplies are supplied to multiple locations when a disaster occurs has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied as a support system for, for example, delivering goods to multiple stores during normal times.

[0079] In addition, as a transportation medium, in addition to road vehicles such as trucks, railroads, ships, flying objects such as drones, etc. can be selectively used. In addition, the functions of the material supply support device, the processing procedures and processing contents, the types of materials, the contents of the support information, etc. can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0080] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the above description is merely an example of the present invention in every respect. It goes without saying that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In other words, in implementing the present invention, specific configurations according to the embodiment may be appropriately adopted.

[0081] In short, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment as it is, and in the implementation stage, the components can be modified and embodied without departing from the gist of the invention. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining multiple components disclosed in the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, components from different embodiments may be appropriately combined. [Explanation of symbols]

[0082] SV…Materials supply support device 1...Control unit 2...Program memory section 3. Data storage section 4. Communication I / F section 5. Bus 11...Parameter information acquisition processing unit 12...Triage point number determination processing unit 13...Optimal route determination processing unit 14...Support information output processing unit 31...Parameter information storage unit 32...Optimal route information storage unit

Claims

1. A supplies supply support device that supports a task of supplying supplies to a first set of points using a transportation medium, a first processing unit configured to obtain parameter information related to the supply of the material between the first set of locations; a second processing unit that determines a number of points to be abandoned for the supply of the material based on the parameter information so that a depletion time of the material in the first set of points is minimized and a number of points to be supplied with the material is maximized; a third processing unit that determines a material supply route that minimizes a depletion time of the material for a second set of points obtained by excluding a number of points corresponding to the number of points to be abandoned from the first set of points; a fourth processing unit that generates and outputs support information including information representing the material supply route; A material supply support device equipped with the above.

2. The second processing unit includes: A process of identifying a route that minimizes a maximum depletion time of the material from among a plurality of material supply routes that can be set to the first set of points; a process of setting a plurality of candidates for the number of points to be abandoned for the first set of points when there is a point on the identified route where the supply of the material needs to be abandoned, and calculating a range of the depletion time for each of the plurality of candidates; selecting a candidate that satisfies a predetermined condition as to the probability that the exhaustion time takes the minimum value within the range from among the plurality of candidates, and determining the selected candidate as the number of points to be abandoned; 2. The material supply support device according to claim 1, wherein the material supply support device performs the steps of:

3. The second processing unit determines, when a minimum value of the exhaustion time within the range is defined by a probability distribution function, the candidates whose minimum value of the exhaustion time exists near 0 as the number of points to be abandoned.

3. The material supply support device according to claim 2.

4. The third processing unit includes: a process of determining, from the first set of points, a set of points that includes a number of points equivalent to the number of the abandonment target points and that has a minimum depletion time of the material as a set of points to be abandoned; determining, as the material supply route, a route that minimizes the depletion time of the material for the second set of points excluding the determined set of points to be abandoned; 2. The material supply support device according to claim 1, wherein the material supply support device performs the steps of:

5. A materials supply support method, comprising: an information processing device executing a process for supporting a task of supplying materials to a first set of points using a transportation medium, the process comprising: obtaining parameter information relating to the supply of said commodity at and between said first set of locations; determining a number of points to be abandoned for the supply of the material based on the parameter information so that the depletion time of the material in the first set of points is minimized and the number of points to be supplied with the material is maximized; a third processing unit that determines a material supply route that minimizes a depletion time of the material for a second set of points obtained by excluding a number of points corresponding to the number of points to be abandoned from the first set of points; generating and outputting support information including information representing the material supply route; A material supply support method comprising the steps of:

6. 5. A program for causing a processor included in the material supply support device to execute at least one of the processes executed by the first to fourth processing units included in the material supply support device according to claim 1.

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