Operational Transportation Planning of Modern Freight Forwarding Companies: Vehicle Routing under Consideration of Subcontracting and Request Exchange

172 Pages·2015·2.469 MB·English

by  Xin Wang (auth.)

Produktion und Logistik
Herausgegeben von
B. Fleischmann, Augsburg, Deutschland
M. Grunow, München, Deutschland
H.-O. Günther, Berlin, Deutschland
S. Helber, Hannover, Deutschland
K. Inderfurth, Magdeburg, Deutschland
H. Kopfer, Bremen, Deutschland
H. Meyr, Hohenheim, Deutschland
Th . S. Spengler, Braunschweig, Deutschland
H. Stadtler, Hamburg, Deutschland
H. Tempelmeier, Köln, Deutschland
G. Wäscher, Magdeburg, Deutschland
Diese Reihe dient der Veröff entlichung neuer Forschungsergebnisse auf den Gebie-
ten der Produktion und Logistik. Aufgenommen werden vor allem herausragende
quantitativ orientierte Dissertationen und Habilitationsschrift en. Die Publikatio-
nen vermitteln innovative Beiträge zur Lösung praktischer Anwendungsprobleme
der Produktion und Logistik unter Einsatz quantitativer Methoden und moderner
Informationstechnologie.
Herausgegeben von
Professor Dr. Bernhard Fleischmann Professor Dr. Herbert Meyr
Universität Augsburg Universität Hohenheim
Professor Dr. Martin Grunow Professor Dr. Th omas S. Spengler
Technische Universität München Technische Universität Braunschweig
Professor Dr. Hans-Otto Günther Professor Dr. Hartmut Stadtler
Technische Universität Berlin Universität Hamburg
Professor Dr. Stefan Helber Professor Dr. Horst Tempelmeier
Universität Hannover Universität Köln
Professor Dr. Karl Inderfurth Professor Dr. Gerhard Wäscher
Universität Magdeburg Universität Magdeburg
Professor Dr. Herbert Kopfer
Universität Bremen
Kontakt
Professor Dr. Th omas S. Spengler
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Institut für Automobilwirtschaft
und Industrielle Produktion
Katharinenstraße 3
38106 Braunschweig
Xin Wang
Operational
Transportation Planning
of Modern Freight
Forwarding Companies
Vehicle Routing under
Consideration of Subcontracting
and Request Exchange
Foreword by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Kopfer
Xin Wang
Bremen, Germany
Dissertation University of Bremen, 2014
ISBN 978-3-658-06868-4 ISBN 978-3-658-06869-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-06869-1
Th e Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografi e;
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Foreword
Road haulage is the only mode of transportation that can be flexibly used to serve in-
dividual customers in wide and rural areas at reasonable cost. Especially in times of
increasing virtualization of retail relationships through online-shopping, it is expected
that the continuously rising transportation volumes will mainly be carried out by road
haulage. However, the “limits to growth” of road transportation are already noticeable
through phenomena like traffic congestion, increased pollution, etc. Moreover, the mar-
ketsuffersunderpersistentlyfallingprices,whicharemostlyduetotheliberalizationof
Europeanmarkets.
Although freight forwarding companies in the road haulage are confronted with the
pressureofbothincreasingcostsandfallingrevenues,therearelotsofunusedcapacities
inthetransportationmarket,whichcandirectlybeobservedbyconsideringtheamount
of partially loaded or even empty truck movements. Such unused capacities represent
an important potential for increasing the efficiency of the entire transportation sector.
A considerable increase of efficiency can be reached by vertical and horizontal coopera-
tioninthetransportationsector,whichactuallymeanstoexploitandcombineallthree
transportationmodes: self-fulfillment,subcontractingandrequestexchangeincoalitions
ofcarriers.
Vertical collaboration is a well-known and important medium for short-term capacity
expansionatvariablecostsinroadhaulage. Transportationrequestscanbesubcontracted
to other carriers who are paid according to specific tariffs. Despite the high practical
importanceofsubcontracting,transportationplanningconsideringthisoptionofrequest
fulfillmentisstillinsufficientlyinvestigatedinliterature.
Further potential for even higher efficiency can be realized through joint operational
planningandrequestfulfillmentwithinhorizontalcoalitionsoffreightforwarders. How-
ever,developingapproachesforcollaborativetransportationplanningofforwarderscoop-
eratingonthebasisofequalpartnershipisadifficulttask. Theunderlyingplanningtasks
areextremelycomplexand,evenmorecomplicating,thegeneralpracticalconditionslike
thetendencyandwillingnessofforwarderstohideplanning-relevantinformationagainst
otherpartnersinthecoalitionmustberespected.
Theresearchofthisbookfocusesontheplanningtasksoffreightforwardingcompanies
whicharecombiningthevehicleroutingandschedulingofownvehicleswiththeusageof
VI
external transportation capacities arising from vertical and horizontal cooperation with
otherfreightcarriers. Theobjectiveoftheresearchistodevelopmechanismswhichenable
therealizationofalmostallofthetheoreticallyachievablepotentialofefficiencyincrease
thatcanbereachedbyincludingcollaborationinvehiclerouting;i.e.,byintegratingthe
threepossiblefulfillmentmodesself-fulfillment,subcontracting,andcollaborativerequest
exchange to a simultaneous way of integrated operational collaborative transportation
planningforroadtransport.
This book contains important findings of both practical and theoretical relevance for
theresearchfieldoftransportationplanning. Fromapracticalview,itprovidesefficient
methodsfortheresolutionofthehighlyimportantproblemsoftheintegratedtransporta-
tion planning and the collaborative transportation planning, as well as the combination
ofthem. Fromascientificview,theextensionofthevehicleroutingproblem,whichhas
beenintensivelystudiedsincemanyyearsandisstillbeingintensivelystudiednowadays,
throughtheconsiderationofpractice-relevantaspectsofsubcontractingandcollaboration
broadensthespectrumoftheresearchontransportationplanning.
Thisbookshouldbemostsuitabletoresearchersandstudentsoflogistics,particularly
those with an engineering background. In addition, the contents of this book might be
veryinterestingtothoseinindustrywhoneedtosolveproblemsonthedesign,operation,
andmanagementoffreighttransportation.
HerbertKopfer
Preface
This thesis represents the result of my PhD study at the Chair of Logistics, University
of Bremen from September 2008 to January 2014. These years have been a long and
challenging journey, but I was fortunate enough to be accompanied by many people.
WithouttheirsupportIwouldhaveneverfinishedmydissertation. Ithankallofthem,
particularlytheonesbelow.
First,IwouldliketoexpressmygreatgratitudetomysupervisorProf. HerbertKopfer.
He offered me the opportunity to work at the Chair of Logistics and to conduct my
PhD research. He was very open-minded in his supervision and I enjoyed very much
the freedom he gave me to pursue the research direction I like. Throughout my study,
he continuously supported me with his broad knowledge in the fields of logistics and
operationsresearch,andheinspiredmewithhisenthusiasmfornewproblemsandsolution
ideas. His professional comments and invaluable advices have helped me improve the
scientificqualityofthisthesis.
MygreatgratitudegoesalsotoPDDr. J¨ornSch¨obergerwhoisthesecondreviewerof
myPhDthesis. Theconsiderablediscussionswehadandtheconstructivesuggestionshe
madeonmyworkwereveryhelpful. IwouldalsoliketothankProf. HerbertKotzaband
Prof. Jan Dethloff for being my examiners in my PhD defense and thank Prof. Tobias
BuerandMarioZiebuhrforbeingmembersofthedoctoralcommittee.
IamthankfultomycolleaguesfromtheChairofLogisticsJuliaFunke,MarioZiebuhr
andKristianSchopkaforhelpingmewiththeproofreadingofmythesisandforpartici-
patinginmydefense. Myappreciationalsogoestomyformercolleagues,especiallyDr.
ChristophManuelMeyer,Dr. MartaKrajewska,andDr. SebastianSterzik,fortheirhelp
andthenicetimewehadtogether.
I would like to thank Prof. Stefan Ropke for the discussions we had during the time
hevisitedtheChairofLogisticsin2008,whichinspiredmealot. Furthermore,Ithank
Prof. MichelGendreauforhishospitalityduringthetimeProf. Kopfer,Prof. Buerand
IvisitedhiminMontr´ealinOctober2011andforourfruitfulcollaboration.
I am grateful to the editorial team of Gabler Verlag for publishing my PhD thesis,
especiallyProf. ThomasStefanSpengler,Prof. Hans-OttoGu¨nther,Ms. MartaSchmidt,
andMs. NicoleSchweitzer.
VIII
My special thanks go to my family, who have unconditionally supported me all this
time. I thank my mother Shuzhi Wang and my father Jiaji Wang for their love and
encouragement. ThethoughtthatIcouldalwaysrelyonthemgavemegreatconfidence
inovercominganyobstaclesonmyjourney. Apartfromthat, mymothertookthetime
and effort to proofread the entire manuscript of my PhD thesis. Furthermore, I would
liketothankmymother-in-lawYunShiandfather-in-lawLiYinfortheirconfidencein
me. MywifeShanshanYindeservesaspecialwordofappreciationforhermoralsupport,
forherpatienceandlove. Itisagreatfortunetohaveheronmyside.
Lastbutnotleast,IwouldliketothankmydaughterXinghaoOliviafortheexcitement
andhappinessshebroughtme. IwillneverforgetthemomentswhenIwaswritingthis
thesis on the computer and she, who was only one year old at that time, came to me,
climbed up my legs with assistance, and “helped” me by simply typing any randomly
chosen characters. Such sweet actions of hers were the best I have got to relieve the
pressures.
XinWang
Contents
List of Figures XIII
List of Tables XV
Abbreviations XVII
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Requestfulfillmentoffreightforwardingcompanies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 ObjectivesandStructureoftheThesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Vehicle Routing 7
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 MathematicalmodelforthePDPTW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 SolutionapproachesforthePDPTW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.1 Exactalgorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3.2 Heuristicalgorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.4 TheALNSheuristicofRopkeandPisinger(2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.1 Generalideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4.2 Removaloperators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4.3 Insertionoperators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4.4 Adaptiveoperatorchoice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4.5 Furthersettings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3 Freight Consolidation 25
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.2 Mathematicalformulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.3 Solutionmethodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.3.1 Alocalsearchheuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.3.2 Asimulatedannealingheuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.4 Computationalexperiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4.1 Costfunctionforthefreightchargecalculation. . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4.2 Testinstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.4.3 Computationalresults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40