Transportation Optimization

There are a number of changes between use of Transportation Optimization in Supply Chain Guru and in Supply Chain Guru X:

Running the solver

The Solver Setting enables you to control solution quality vs solve time tradeoff. This trade-off is achieved by controlling heuristic search space. As the search space increases, so does the runtime and the likelihood of finding a better solution. The different Solver Setting values adjust multiple parameters to collectively control the heuristic search-space. By default, Solver Setting is 'Balanced' which provides a good balance between search space and solve time. Typically, when first setting up your model, you may want to use the fastest setting to quickly assess the solution. As you refine the model, you can adjust the setting to expand searches during optimization.

The Auto-Detect problem type analyzes your model structure to determine the appropriate Transportation Optimization Problem. In this way, you do not need to select a specific problem type. The problem type used by the solver is displayed on the Run screen and in the Transportation Summary output table.

Split shipments

The Transportation Optimization solver no longer splits shipments when the model is run. Instead, this functionality is performed using a Data Guru project provided with Supply Chain Guru X. The Data Guru project splits shipments based on the most constraining asset that is allowed for a shipment.

When using the Data Guru project, splitting shipments is a pre-process to the solve, so it is supported for all problem types.

Asset fill levels

The Quantity Fill Level, Weight Fill Level and Cubic Fill Level values in Transportation Assets are no longer used by the Transportation Optimization solver. Adjusting the Solver Setting option and other parameters are available to address issues where the utilization of some routes is not as high as desired.

Asset selection

Selection of assets is no longer based on priority, it is now based on cost. Using a higher number for the Fixed Asset Cost in Transportation Assets is equivalent to a higher priority value.

Mode selection

Using the Direct Shipping Cost, the solver determines whether you should route a shipment or ship it direct by considering this trade-off as part of the decision variables.

Last modified: Wednesday May 15, 2024

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