Abstract:
The growth of e-commerce has led to a significant increase in parcel deliveries. In 2021, e-commerce accounted for 13.4% of retail trade, and it is projected to grow by 3...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
The growth of e-commerce has led to a significant increase in parcel deliveries. In 2021, e-commerce accounted for 13.4% of retail trade, and it is projected to grow by 3% each year. To meet the demand for more efficient parcel delivery practices, it is essential to improve the organization of parcel collection (first mile), large-scale parcel transportation between different regions (middle mile), and final delivery to the customer (last mile). This is crucial not only for reducing the environmental impact but also for mitigating the disturbances caused by such activities.In this study, we focus on the middle mile part. The studied problem deals with the parcel delivery between different regional distribution centers with possibility to use the cross-dock. The deliveries are performed directly or through a route. In the context of this research, the objective is to minimize the total distance travelled per parcel for all deliveries. The primary challenge is naturally presented as a vehicle routing problem. To address the complexity of accounting for all the unique specifities of the studied problem, a MIP model is developed. The problem being NP-hard, we show that solving instances with commercial solver (CPLEX) reaches its limits very quickly even for small-size problems.
Published in: 2024 10th International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies (CoDIT)
Date of Conference: 01-04 July 2024
Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 18 October 2024
ISBN Information: