The optimization process involves refining a solution through repeated cycles of continuous improvement. The algorithm starts by generating initial routes. After which, through a series of iterations, it gradually improves this solution, making incremental improvements at each step. Throughout this iterative process, you can access intermediate results, allowing you to examine the solution's progression and quality at various stages.
With each iteration, the algorithm evaluates the current routes, identifies areas for improvement, and applies adjustments to enhance the routes' overall quality. These adjustments involve reorganizing routes, reallocating resources or adjusting parameters to better align with specified objectives or constraints. In this manner, the algorithm aims to iteratively improve the overall quality of your logistic plan, ensuring streamlined operations and enhanced efficiency.
You can set a preferred calculation duration, allowing the algorithm to halt automatically after the specified time. If you have a sequencing request containing only one vehicle with up to 500 orders, the calculation duration is capped at 2 minutes as sequencing requests are faster to optimize.
Additionally, if the intermediate routes meet your quality standards at any point, you can stop the algorithm and access the current routes along with their corresponding metrics.
Objective
The optimization focuses on improving a solution by considering two key factors: the number of scheduled orders and the cost involved.
- Number of scheduled orders — When certain orders are specified without an outsourcing cost, the optimization will try to schedule the pickup and delivery regardless of the added cost to the route. A solution to the optimization request is always considered better when there are more orders scheduled that do not specify an outsourcing cost.
- Cost reduction — Another aspect of the optimization process is to reduce costs associated with the transport plan. The cost of the optimization consists of two components: the outsourcing cost of the unscheduled orders and the cost of the scheduled routes. The latter is calculated based on the cost per hour, cost per kilometer and fixed cost of the assigned vehicle. The optimization minimizes these costs and by doing so, the plan becomes more economical and efficient.
In summary, the optimization process evaluates and refines a solution based on the dual criteria of maximizing the number of scheduled orders and minimizing cost.
Stages
There are several stages in which the optimization can reside.
PREPARING— The optimization request has been accepted. We are preparing the data in order to start the optimization.RUNNING— The optimization is running, the initial routes have been created and the optimization is continuously refining routes to reduce costs while meeting defined constraints. In this stage, intermediate metrics can be retrieved to track optimization progress. The optimization remains in this state until the desired calculation duration expires, the optimization is manually halted or an unexpected error occurs.STOPPING— The optimization was asked to be halted. We are in the process of stopping the optimization and making the final routes and metrics available.SUCCEEDED— The optimization has terminated successfully. The final routes and metrics are available to be queried.FAILED— The optimization has encountered an error. An error message will provide you with more details.
Result
In case the optimization terminated successfully, the result of the optimization is a list of optimized routes, together with metrics of the optimized plan.
Routes
Routes are a sequence of scheduled tasks, which are assigned to a vehicle. Tasks are grouped in appointments when they are executed consecutively and are assigned to the same time slot. Consecutive appointments at the same location, are grouped in a stop.
Metrics
An optimized plan includes metrics that capture both the plan's characteristics and provide a summary of the routes' metrics.
- Number of unscheduled orders — The number of orders that have not been scheduled by the optimization.
- Number of routes — The number of routes that were created by the optimization.
- Total cost — The sum of the total cost of the routes and the outsourcing cost of the unscheduled orders.
- Total distance — The sum of the distances of the scheduled routes.
- Total duration — The sum of the durations of the scheduled routes.