23-07-2012, 03:00 PM
Dynamic vehicle routing: Status and prospects
[attachment=28522]
Introduction and background
Efficient distribution of goods entails, among other things, a determination
of routes and schedules for the fleet of vehicles so that total distribution costs are
minimized, while various requirements (constraints) are met. The constraints concern
various facets of the operation, such as vehicle capacities, time windows on pick
up and/or delivery, time availability of vehicles, etc.
As the world's economies become more and more interdependent, efficient
distribution of goods (from raw materials to finished products) becomes of paramount
importance, not only for the survival of many businesses that depend on such
distribution, but ultimately, for the overall competitiveness of the market, both
internal and external. As an example, with the implementation of a borderless
European market as of January 1, 1993, competitive advantage in many industries
becomes critically dependent on their ability to provide efficient and on-time
logistical service.
Contexts and importance of dynamic vehicle routing
A non-exhaustive inventory of distribution problems that generally involve
dynamic vehicle routing is the following (the references that are cited are representative
and do not necessarily deal with inherently dynamic formulations of these problems):
Why are these problems increasingly important?
It is well known that the market for the distribution of goods is enormous.
Suffice it to mention that in 1990 there were on the order of 13 million trucks
operating in countries of the European Union (EU), and the ton-kilometers hauled
by the EU road freight system were at least 800 billion. In Germany alone, a
country that hauls on the order of 10% of all ton-kilometers in the EC, freight
income amounted to about 60 billion DM (or about 35 billion US$), again for the
road mode alone. Similar statistics can be found for countries in North America.
Technological advances
As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons dynamic vehicle routing is more
important now than it was a few years ago is due to recent advances in information
and communication technologies. Since such advances significantly enhance one's
ability to process information in real time, a whole new spectrum of opportunities
that were hitherto nonexistent are revealed. We briefly discuss such advances, with
an emphasis on those that have "key words" that have become more and more
common these days.
[attachment=28522]
Introduction and background
Efficient distribution of goods entails, among other things, a determination
of routes and schedules for the fleet of vehicles so that total distribution costs are
minimized, while various requirements (constraints) are met. The constraints concern
various facets of the operation, such as vehicle capacities, time windows on pick
up and/or delivery, time availability of vehicles, etc.
As the world's economies become more and more interdependent, efficient
distribution of goods (from raw materials to finished products) becomes of paramount
importance, not only for the survival of many businesses that depend on such
distribution, but ultimately, for the overall competitiveness of the market, both
internal and external. As an example, with the implementation of a borderless
European market as of January 1, 1993, competitive advantage in many industries
becomes critically dependent on their ability to provide efficient and on-time
logistical service.
Contexts and importance of dynamic vehicle routing
A non-exhaustive inventory of distribution problems that generally involve
dynamic vehicle routing is the following (the references that are cited are representative
and do not necessarily deal with inherently dynamic formulations of these problems):
Why are these problems increasingly important?
It is well known that the market for the distribution of goods is enormous.
Suffice it to mention that in 1990 there were on the order of 13 million trucks
operating in countries of the European Union (EU), and the ton-kilometers hauled
by the EU road freight system were at least 800 billion. In Germany alone, a
country that hauls on the order of 10% of all ton-kilometers in the EC, freight
income amounted to about 60 billion DM (or about 35 billion US$), again for the
road mode alone. Similar statistics can be found for countries in North America.
Technological advances
As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons dynamic vehicle routing is more
important now than it was a few years ago is due to recent advances in information
and communication technologies. Since such advances significantly enhance one's
ability to process information in real time, a whole new spectrum of opportunities
that were hitherto nonexistent are revealed. We briefly discuss such advances, with
an emphasis on those that have "key words" that have become more and more
common these days.