Transportation modes

You can use the Modes table to define general types of transportation. You define the characteristics of the mode, including:

• Fixed and variables costs.
• Products that can be transported with the mode.
• The asset that is used by the mode.
• The methods by which distance and transit time are calculated.
• Fuel surcharges.

In the Transportation Policies table, you can select the Mode you want to use for that lane. The costs and constraints that are defined in the Modes record apply to the Transportation Policies record. If you want to override costs and constraints at the Transportation Policies level, you can populate those fields in the Transportation Policies record. For example, if you have a Variable Transportation Cost in both tables, the value in Transportation Policies overrides that in Modes.

Network flows

"Flow" is the term used to describe throughput. For instance, the flow between two sites would be the total amount shipped between the two sites over some period of time. Individual shipments are not accounted for in the optimization process. All demands, shipments, and orders are aggregated in to a total "flow" amount.

This simplification has its advantages and disadvantages. The optimization algorithms use flow to determine the best path to take over the entire lifetime of the model (as opposed to optimizing against individual shipments), but does not take into account the shipment-by-shipment costs and conditions over periods. At best, these costs and conditions can only be approximated. This is one of the main limitations of using only optimization technologies in Supply Chain analysis, and one of the major reasons for using Simulation.