Autonomous Groupage Traffic (2011 - 2013)

In groupage traffic, several orders to different destinations with less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments are served by the same truck to decrease total cost. In pickup tours, trucks transport loads from their origin to a local depot where the shipments are consolidated to build economical loads. Through LTL networks the load is transported to a depot in the destination area where each good is delivered to its final destination. The process planning complexity is even increased by individual qualities of shipments like weight, volume, priority and value. Handling the complexity is aggregated by the high degree of dynamics that result also from unexpected events, such as an exact amount and properties of shipments are not known in advance. Actual capacities are only known while serving tasks. Further, undelivered loads in pre-carriage decrease truck capacities in onward carriage. To react to changing traffic conditions and delays on incoming goods departments, it is essential to adapt tours and timetables in respect to actual capacities.

Objectives

Autonomous logistic processes enable efficient solutions for complex problems in dynamic environments. The transfer project Autonomous Groupage Traffic of the Collaborative Research Centre 637 Autonomous Cooperating Logistic Processes (SFB 637) and the Bremen office of Hellmann Worldwide Logistics GmbH & Co. KG investigates decentralized, autonomous processes to support planning and controlling of logistic companies. The goal is to increase the service quality through short transit times as well as reliable deliveries by handling the dynamic processes with adaptive, reactive system behavior. In addition, both carriers and dispatchers will be supported with tour and routing proposals.

Approach

The relevant operational sequences of the groupage traffic of Hellmann Worldwide (in Bremen) are modeled. Operational ratios are measured that describe quantitatively the current stages of processes. The operational data is inspected in order to determine its quality, feasibility as well as the relevance to the decision makers. The provided data serve as a basis for the decisions of autonomous processes to enable its low cost integration regarding new hardware investment.

In the next step, the mechanisms and interaction protocols developed in the SFB 637 are upgraded and adapted to meet the demands and specific complexities in the real-world operations.

To evaluate this implementation of autonomous processes the multi-agent-based simulation platform PlaSMA for modeling different transport scenarios is used. Therefore PlaSMA is adapted to the special requirements for simulating operations in groupage traffic. The results will be compared to real process data to validate the advantages of the application of autonomous logistic processes in groupage traffic under real-world conditions.

Prof. Dr. Otthein Herzog
Universität Bremen
TZI - Center for Computing and Communication Technologies
Intelligent Systems Department

Am Fallturm 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Phone: +49 421 218 64003, Fax: +49 421 218 64047

E-Mail: herzog(at)tzi.de

Contact

Dipl.-Inf. Max Oliver Gath
Universität Bremen
TZI - Center for Computing and Communication Technologies
Intelligent Systems Department

Am Fallturm 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Phone: +49 421 218 64017, Fax: +49 421 218 64047

E-Mail: mgath(at)tzi.de