Solutions
ILS as a service can be used for either daily scheduling of shipments or for redesigning a fixed-route logistics system. ILS provides a suite of value-added services that can be tailored to the client’s needs. These services include:
Optimal Vehicle Types and Number – what combination of vehicle types is best for the client? how many vehicles from each type is needed?
Optimal Pickup/Delivery Scheme – among various logistics schemes including direct shipment, milk run, multi-mode, and cross-dock which will deliver the best results for the client? Do we need a hybrid logistics scheme for the best performance? Is it preferred to dispatch shipments directly to the customers using small trucks, or is it better to consolidate shipments and use a big truck to deliver shipments via a milk-run scheme?
Optimal Pickup/Delivery Splitting – what is the best shipment splitting strategy for customer orders that are bigger than a full truckload?
Optimal Clustering – which pickup/delivery points are assigned to each vehicle? A pickup/delivery point may be assigned to more than one vehicle if order splitting is allowed.
Optimal Routing Plan – what is the best vehicle routing? In what sequence the pickup/delivery points should be visited? Should pickups and deliveries be performed separately or together?
Optimal Scheduling Plan – what is the expected vehicle arrival schedules at pickup/delivery points considering live traffic, load/unload times, etc.?
Optimal Loading Plan – What is the best placement of shipments on transportation vehicles esp. for multi-customer shipments? Which products/pallets should be stacked? What if certain products cannot be placed next to each other? How do we load the vehicle to ensure minimal product movement and maximum safety during trips? How do we ensure that the shipments can be feasibly loaded into the container given product weight, cube, dimensions, weight distribution, loading priorities, orthogonality, orientation, stacking, and stability constraints?
