1,720,974 research outputs found
An optimization methodology for the consolidation of urban freight boxes
No full textThe paper refers to an innovative urban freight
distribution scheme. Packages are firstly delivered to
urban distribution centers (UDCs) on the border of
urban areas. Packages should therefore be delivered
from the UDC to receivers within the urban area. Each
package is characterized by an address and dimensions.
FURBOT boxes are consolidated in the UDC with these
packages. Each box is addressed to a temporary
unloading bay and it is delivered there by a FURBOT
vehicle. A virtual key and the actual address of the box
will be communicated to all the receivers, allowing
them to collect their packages from the box in a given
time window. The paper concerns a methodology for
the box consolidation which minimizes the overall
distance travelled by receivers, taking into account the
box capacity and the maximum walking distance the
receivers accept to collect their packages. A fuzzy kmeans
clustering algorithm has been adopted
The routing problem of an innovative urban freight distribution scheme
No full textThe paper refers to an innovative urban freight distribution scheme, aimed at reducing the externalities
connected with the freight delivery process. Both packages destined to commercial activities and to private
consumers (e-commerce) are taken into account. Packages are firstly delivered to urban distribution centers
(UDCs) on the border of urban areas; each package is characterized by an address and dimensions. FURBOT
boxes are consolidated in the UDC with these packages. Each box is addressed to a temporary unloading bay and
it is delivered there by a FURBOT vehicle. The FURBOT vehicle has a capacity of 2 boxes. The paper focuses
on the problem of choosing the couple of boxes to be loaded on each vehicle and on the related choice of the
route to be assigned to each vehicle: from the UDC to the first stop where the first box should be unloaded, to the
second stop where the second box should be unloaded, and then back to the UDC. A methodology for the
specific routing problem is proposed and its application to the case study of Genoa city centre is presented
Automation of a garment sewing department assessment by smart simulation
No full textThe textile-garment industry needs great production flexibility to adapt, in terms of sustainability, to the fickle fashion market. This study proposes a new simulation model of manufacturing and production processes, which can be used as design support, performance evaluation and plant management of highly flexible production systems such as those operating in the fashion sector. The proposed simulation model aims to support industries in increasing their reactive flexibility by adjusting the production set-up. It is a distributed discrete event simulator based on the easy re-composition of resources in the production layout and on the availability of intelligent process management and control modules. The simulator has been applied to optimise the production of children’s garments. The development was done together with the production manager of an important European industry; the manager enjoyed the intuitive use of the software and the significance and reliability of the information obtained
A methodology for planning a new urban car sharing system with fully automated personal vehicles
No full textPurpose: The paper concerns a transport system for pedestrian areas, based on a fleet of fully-automated Personal Intelligent Accessible Vehicles. The following services are provided: instant access, open ended reservation and one way trips. All these features provide users with high flexibility, but create a problem of uneven distribution of vehicles among the stations. A fully vehicle based relocation strategy is proposed: when a relocation is required vehicles automatically move among stations. The paper focuses on a methodology that allows to plan the proposed transport system for wide pedestrian areas. The methodology aims to determine the fleet dimension and the relocation strategy parameters which minimize the system cost. The system cost takes into account the level of service and the efficiency. Relocation strategy parameters define when and among which stations relocations should be performed. Methods: The problem faced is an optimisation problem where the search space is defined by all the possible fleet dimensions and relocation strategy parameters. As this cost function could be a multipeak function and since the search space is discrete and extremely large, a random search algorithm has been adopted. Because of the characteristics of the problem, a parallel optimization technique was required. Given a fleet dimension and relocation strategy parameters, a microsimulator models the activity of each user, as well as the activity of each vehicle over time with the aim of finding the level of service and the system efficiency. Results, conclusions and application: The methodology has been applied to planning the proposed transport system for the centre of Barreiro, Portugal
The use of autonomous coupling capable trailer to reduce the cost per delivery and increase profit for logistic companies: a simulative analysis
No full textLast-mile distribution causes more obstacles in urban areas all over the world. Increased volumes of packages to be delivered for customer homes is directly increasing the number of delivery vans movement inside the urban areas and thus add to congestion and negative health impact. Therefore, it is anything but surprising that in recent years many traditional delivery concepts on the last mile have been innovated. Among the most prominent are unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and autonomous delivery robots taking over parcel delivery. In this paper we introduce the autonomous latching and unlatching concept for urban vehicle with trailer. Considering the fact that latching and unlatching operations generally happen in unstructured environments where obstacles are left lying around, the whole latching and unlatching process is divided into two phases, namely the trailer repositioning phase and the autonomous latching and unlatching phase. The benefits in last-mile logistics of using this autonomous trailer for unattended deliveries are evaluated in simulation with Anylogic software. Four different scenarios are simulated and compared: traditional vans without trailers; traditional vans to which trailers can be added manually; traditional vans with autonomous coupling capable trailers; autonomous vans with autonomous coupling capable trailers
On line shopping and logistics: a fast dynamic vehicle routing algorithm for dealing with information evolution
No full textOnline shopping has seen booms of orders in recent years. In online shopping, the orders are characterized by tight order-to-delivery lead times and the frequent and discrete arrival of orders. Online shopping has recently expanded into new sectors. Due to the pandemic, online grocery shopping showed a boom and the shift from physical grocery shopping to on line shopping is not expected to disappear with the pandemic end. This increases the number of online orders that should be delivered directly to customers. Online shopping is changing its characteristics: customers even more often pick up online orders in stores. This increases the number of online orders that need to be delivered to physical stores and places requirements on supply chains—especially in terms of speed and efficiency. Delivery at the time and place that is convenient to the consumer is one of the main issues for increasing customer satisfaction and therefore business efficiency. This study proposes an exact algorithm for solving a multi-constrained dynamic vehicle routing problem with a short execution time. The algorithm is therefore able to satisfy customer preferences, allowing for instance last minute changes in order lists and/or delivery addresses
Car-sharing relocation strategies: a state of the art
Full text linkTraditional car sharing systems are round-trip and require advance reservations. The advances of ICT and vehicle automation allow to improve car sharing sys-tems and to provide users with greater flexibility. As it concerns reservation, new car sharing systems offer users open-ended reservation and/or instant access. As it concerns the trip typology, new car sharing systems are multiple station shared vehicle systems (MSSVS). Roundtrips still occur in this type of system, however there is a large number of one-way trips made between the multiple stations. Operating an MSSVS is much more difficult than operating a round-trip shared vehicle systems. The problem is that the system can quickly become imbalanced with respect to the number of vehicles at the multiple stations. These systems are called new (or second) generation car sharing systems. Third generation systems are the last being developed; in these systems vehicles can be accessed at any point of the area. An overview of all these car sharing systems is provided in this paper
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