Periodic scheduling and balancing

In periodic scheduling and balancing (also known as Periodic Optimization), transportation orders or shipments are delivered based on a fixed periodic schedule at each location. The basic inbound/outbound problem is extended to create a fixed, likely weekly or bi-weekly, schedule of deliveries that is not only optimized based on distance and cost, but also balanced in terms of outbound shipping at the distribution center. This balancing helps avoid having considerable outbound volume on some days and very little volume on other days. It is designed to be used when your problem requires repetitive delivery frequencies. You either provide the delivery frequencies, or let Transportation Optimization determine the best frequency, in addition to the best delivery schedule.

Additionally, periodic optimization performs a trade off between route cost and inventory holding cost. You define consumption rates over the planning horizon along with inventory holding cost, maximum drop size and capacity at the customer locations. Deliveries are scheduled to minimize total transportation cost of a single product from a source location to a set of customers while avoiding stock outs at the customer locations. The solver looks to reduce the cost of holding inventory at these locations with deterministic consumption rates.

For detailed information, see Modeling periodic scheduling and balancing.