A multi-agent approach to load consolidation in transportation
Advances in Engineering Software
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Land transportation managers face some difficulties especially for operating decisions which are about load/capacity/route planning. Load consolidation is a widely used practice in transportation. Load consolidation is grouping of several small shipments into one container while satisfying logistics system constraints. In this paper, two simple load consolidation approaches, which are known as 'quantity-based consolidation' and 'time and quantity-based consolidation' are evaluated. These approaches are 'non-recurrent', in which the logistics system has a 'target time' or 'target weight' before the accumulation of the orders. Some performance measures for these methods are investigated through a case study. The study is performed in a 3P-logistics company operating from Gaziantep. Due to the complexity of the logistics processes, effects of the load consolidation methods are evaluated via process modelling and simulation. The performance results of load consolidation methods are compared in order to support decisions made by the management of company.