Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Louwerse, I.
Author-Name-Last: Louwerse
Author-Name-First: Ilse
Author-Name: Mijnarends, J.
Author-Name-Last: Mijnarends
Author-Name-First: Jos
Author-Name: Meuffels, I.
Author-Name-Last: Meuffels
Author-Name-First: Ineke
Author-Name: Huisman, D.
Author-Name-Last: Huisman
Author-Name-First: Dennis
Author-Person: phu27
Author-Name: Fleuren, H.A.
Author-Name-Last: Fleuren
Title: Scheduling Movements in the Network of an Express Service Provider
Abstract: Express service providers manage shipments from senders to receivers under strict service level agreements. Such shipments are usually not sufficient to justify a single transportation, so it is preferred to maximize consolidation of these shipments to reduce cost. The consolidation is organized via depots and hubs: depots are local sorting centers that take care of the collection and delivery of the parcels at the customers, and hubs are used to consolidate the transportation between the depots. A single transportation between two locations, carried out by a certain vehicle at a specific time, is defined as a movement. In this paper, we address the problem of scheduling all movements in an express network at minimum cost. Our approach allows to impose restrictions on the number of arriving/departing movements at the hubs so that sufficient handling capacity is ensured. As the movement scheduling problem is complex, it is divided into two parts: one part concerns the movements between depots and hubs; the other part considers the movements between the hubs. We use a column generation approach and a local search algorithm to solve these two subproblems, respectively. Computational experiments show that by using this approach the total transportation costs are decreased.
Creation-Date: 2012-05-11
File-URL: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/32409/EI2012-08.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Series: RePEc:ems:eureir
Number: EI 2012-08
Keywords: column generation, express service provider, integer programming , local search, movement rescheduling
Handle: RePEc:ems:eureir:32409