Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm as a Means of Efficiency Improvement for the Last Mile Delivery in Internet Retailing
MAGAZINE №4(87) August 2018
AUTHORS
YUNEEVA D.R. - School of Logistics, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia)
CATEGORY E-commerce corporate logistics Optimization and mathematical modelling Transportation in logistics
ABSTRACT
Growth rates of internet retailing in Russia outperform brick-and-mortar segment, which raises attractiveness of e-commerce for new players. However a growing number of newcomers make e-tailers seek new competitive advantages and pay specific attention to the logistics support of their businesses. Last mile delivery tends to be one of the most important, though also problematic logistics processes in online retailing. Potential area of improvement for this process involves application of heuristic routing methods. These methods allow to find a nearly optimal solution with substantially lower cost of resources compared to traditional methods.
The paper focuses on the heuristic method of a travelling salesman problem solution complicated by the specifics of internet retailing (big number of clients and, hence, delivery points). This method is based on the simulation of ants’ behaviour seeking the shortest path between their colony and the source of food. The authors describe a mathematical model of an ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO) and review its basic steps using the numerical example. Steps of the ACO include definition of the number of nodes, distance between them as well as pheromone concentration; location of couriers (delivery vans) in the nodes; identification of the probability of moving from the initial point (node) to all other points; selection of the movement direction; repetition of the preceding steps (apart from the initial one) for a new node and for the following ones up to the end of the cycle; pheromone renewal; accomplishment of the next cycles (iterations); finding the shortest delivery route. Comparative analysis has shown major ACO benefits including fast solution of high-dimensional problems and algorithm applicability for the non-stationary systems with changing parameters (much resembling online retailing). An opportunity to apply ACO for the last mile delivery routing referring to the vast majority of e-tailers will significantly depend on the speed of development and proliferation of the respective software as well as on improving of selection and adaptation of the algorithm fine-tuning parameters.
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Specifics of storage and material handling processes outsourcing for internet retailers
MAGAZINE №5 (70) October 2015
AUTHOR KOLCHUGIN D.M., VINOGRADOV A.B.
CATEGORY Corporate logistics e-business Warehouse Logistics Providers of logistics services Outsourcing
ABSTRACT
The article discusses specifics of storage and material handling processes of e-tailers’ goods at the 3PL’s warehouse considering in the first place fashion retail. The authors outline major steps of the processes in question as well as requirements for their fulfillment. Possible methods of order picking and packing operations, that constitute the most complicated part of material handling process, have been reviewed along with the comparative analysis of their benefits and disadvantages. The article features essential requirements for a 3PL’s logistics infrastructure when it comes to providing services to e-tailers. In addition the authors examine specifics of warehouse services tariffication in case of internet retailers
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