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Preemptive depot returns for dynamic same-day delivery

Author

Listed:
  • Marlin W. Ulmer

    (Technische Universität Braunschweig)

  • Barrett W. Thomas

    (University of Iowa)

  • Dirk C. Mattfeld

    (Technische Universität Braunschweig)

Abstract

In this paper, we explore same-day delivery routing and particularly how same-day delivery vehicles can better integrate dynamic requests into delivery routes by taking advantage of preemptive depot returns. A preemptive depot return occurs when a delivery vehicle returns to the depot before delivering all of the packages currently on-board the vehicle. In this paper, we assume that a vehicle serves requests in a particular delivery area. Beginning the day with some known deliveries, the vehicle seeks to serve the known requests as well as additional new requests that are received throughout the day. To serve the new requests, the vehicle must return to the depot to pick up the packages for delivery. In contrast to previous work on same-day delivery routing, in this paper, we allow the vehicle to return to the depot before serving all loaded packages. To solve the problem, we couple an approximation of the value of choosing any particular subset of requests for delivery with a routing heuristic. Our approximation procedure is based on approximate dynamic programming and allows us to capture both the current value of a subset selection decision and its impact on future rewards. Using extensive computational tests, we demonstrate the value of preemptive depot returns and the value of the proposed approximation scheme in supporting preemptive returns. We also identify characteristics of instances for which preemptive depot returns are most likely to offer improvement.

Suggested Citation

  • Marlin W. Ulmer & Barrett W. Thomas & Dirk C. Mattfeld, 2019. "Preemptive depot returns for dynamic same-day delivery," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 8(4), pages 327-361, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurjtl:v:8:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s13676-018-0124-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s13676-018-0124-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nils Boysen & Stefan Fedtke & Stefan Schwerdfeger, 2021. "Last-mile delivery concepts: a survey from an operational research perspective," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 43(1), pages 1-58, March.
    2. Marlin W. Ulmer & Barrett W. Thomas & Ann Melissa Campbell & Nicholas Woyak, 2021. "The Restaurant Meal Delivery Problem: Dynamic Pickup and Delivery with Deadlines and Random Ready Times," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(1), pages 75-100, 1-2.
    3. Côté, Jean-François & Alves de Queiroz, Thiago & Gallesi, Francesco & Iori, Manuel, 2023. "A branch-and-regret algorithm for the same-day delivery problem," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    4. Banerjee, Dipayan & Erera, Alan L. & Stroh, Alexander M. & Toriello, Alejandro, 2023. "Who has access to e-commerce and when? Time-varying service regions in same-day delivery," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 148-168.
    5. Zhang, Jian & Woensel, Tom Van, 2023. "Dynamic vehicle routing with random requests: A literature review," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    6. Ouyang, Zhiyuan & Leung, Eric K.H. & Huang, George Q., 2023. "Community logistics and dynamic community partitioning: A new approach for solving e-commerce last mile delivery," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(1), pages 140-156.
    7. Alexander M. Stroh & Alan L. Erera & Alejandro Toriello, 2022. "Tactical Design of Same-Day Delivery Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3444-3463, May.
    8. Auad, Ramon & Erera, Alan & Savelsbergh, Martin, 2023. "Courier satisfaction in rapid delivery systems using dynamic operating regions," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).

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