Pickup & Delivery Operations

Beyond the scheduling of operations, managing pickup and delivery operations within the same route requires handling vehicle capacity over time. Also, finely modeled reverse logistics helps create more synergies and significantly reduce operational costs.

Delivery Time Windows

Managing time windows and delivery schedules is a major logistical challenge. Since each task is characterized by specific execution hours, optimization technologies plan routing considering these temporal constraints, ensuring punctuality and customer satisfaction.

Skills, Habits, and Precedence Relations

Planning routes based on the skills and experience of drivers is an advanced feature of these software. It allows to customize routes based on customer habits, particularly by assigning a specific resource to a customer.

In some cases, especially in pickup and delivery routing or routing including intermediate vehicle cleaning tasks, the software also takes into account precedence relations according to the vehicle’s capacity and intermediate tasks for maximum efficiency.

Each operation may require one or several properties (vehicle type or authorization, driver skill, etc.) that must be covered by the same properties offered by the vehicles or drivers executing the mission.

Service Time for Operations

Operations performed at each site are characterized by an execution duration, which can depend on the quantity to be delivered, a hefting or assembly task, goods inspection, or associated service. All this can be modeled in the service time linked to the operation.

Optional Requests and Outsourcing Decisions

Optional requests can be carried out over several time windows or days. The solver can optimize decisions to postpone or not a request, based on different priority criteria (operational margin, service quality, CO2 emissions, etc.).

There is also the question of whether to outsource certain operations, and if so, which ones. Here, optimization software can contribute to making the best decisions for execution by the in-house fleet or subcontracting through chartering or the spot market.

Vendor Managed Inventory

Another dimension addressed by these technologies is the possibility of spontaneously delivering a client by having visibility on their consumption and stock level, also known as “Vendor Managed Inventory.” This feature allows for better synchronization between delivery and transport synergy opportunities while ensuring to avoid stock shortages.

Vendor Managed Inventory combines the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) with Inventory Management, which involves determining delivery dates, quantities to deliver, and constructing routes using advanced optimization tools.

Robustness to Contingencies, Real-time, and Dynamic Re-optimization

Robustness and responsiveness are essential in routing management.

Before deployment, robustness to contingencies allows designing routes capable of “absorbing” a random incident without disrupting the entire schedule.

During deployment, for example, facing urban traffic congestion or the addition of new tasks during the route, these tools offer the possibility to react in real-time, readjusting routes to maintain operational efficiency. This dynamic re-optimization results in better time management and a reduction in costs associated with unexpected delays.

From strategic design to operational management, Atoptima’s optimization software addresses the most complex constraints, managing not only the optimization of the first and last mile but also LTL (Less Than Truckload) and FTL (Full Truck Load).

Read our articles on constraints related to vehicles and pickup/delivery sites for a more complete overview of the issues addressed by these technologies.