Developing an Integrated Software of Shipment Consolidation and Loading Optimization for Industrial Clusters

Transcription

1 Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.7, 2009 Developing an Integrated Software of Shipment Consolidation and Loading Optimization for Industrial Clusters Ahmad RUSDIANSYAH Researcher Transportation and Distribution Logistics (TDLog) Research Group Logistics & Supply Chain Management (LSCM) Laboratory Department of Industrial Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya Ira PRASETYANINGRUM Researcher Transportation and Distribution Logistics (TDLog) Research Group Department of Information Technology, Electronics Engineering Polytechnic Institute of Surabaya - Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (EEPIS-ITS) Surabaya ira@eepis-its.edu Sri Gunani PARTIWI Researcher Transportation and Distribution Logistics (TDLog) Research Group Ergonomics and Work System Design Laboratory Department of Industrial Engineering Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya srigunani@ie.its.ac.id Fitri Karunia RANI Researcher Transportation and Distribution Logistics (TDLog) Research Group Logistics & Supply Chain Management (LSCM) Laboratory, Department of Industrial Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya fitri@ie.its.ac.id Abstract: In this paper we introduce our transportation logistics software, CONSLoad. This software is designated for third party logistics (3PL) providers who serve cluster industries or multi-plant manfacturing companies that needs Less Than Truckload (LTL) container trucking services. This software has been developed based on theoritical and practical researches beforehand. In order to increase their transportation efficiency, 3PL providers need to consolidate their clients shipment orders. The individual orders, whose size is less than truck capacity, needs to be consolidated into a truck. Thus, the number of trucks required can be minimized. However, to deal with this, the 3PL providers face two main operational problems. The first problem is about how to select the orders to be consolidated while the second problem is how to increase the space utilization of the container used. There are some aspects to concern: order specifications (volume, weight, due date, and destination city), vehicle specifications (volume, weight, costs and availability), and route specifications (intercity distances, maximum loads allowed for each route). Using CONSLoad, the 3PL providers could solve these complicated problems easily and produce a set of efficient iterinaries and loading scenarios. Key Words: Transportation Logistics Software, 3PL Providers, Shipment Consolidation, Container Loading.

2 1. INTRODUCTION Transportation Costs in logistics activities absorb approximately 33% to 66% of the overall logistics costs (Ballou, 2004). Some initiatives have been done by industries to make transportation costs reduced. One of them is to conduct a strategy called Shipment Consolidation. The Shipment Consolidation is a strategy to consolidate some shipment orders from various sources to various destinations in a larger shipment of vehicle (Attanasio et.al, 2007). Shipment Consolidation is conducted based on the economic of scales principls; Larger delivery quantity in one time shipment will save more money because of the cost charged per product will be cheaper. This strategy is frequently done to increase vehicle fleet efficiency for Long Haul Transportation. Long haul transportation usually operates a Full Truckload (FTL) service where the shipment cost determines by the usage of full capacity of the truck. It means no matter how large of the shipment size, it will be charged the same. However, not all users of transportation services require full capacity of the truck. They sometimes need to wait until the order to be shipped are quite enough for fully fullfilling a truck. This sometimes lead to lateness or high transportation costs. This is the reasons why shipment consolidation have been chosen to deal with such problem Shipment consolidation now have also been receiving attention to apply in industrial clusters. An Industrial Cluster is a collaboration among several industries and institutions which are located in a neighborhood location. They make collaborations based on the value chain of products. In the industrial cluster, the shipment consolidation can be viewed as the collaboration among the industries within a cluster to ship their products together. Such services are conducted third party logistics (3PL) companies. Although Shipment Consolidation strategy have shown benefits, however, there are some operational problems when implementing this strategy. The 3PL providers face two main operational problems. The first problem is about how to select the orders to be consolidated while the second problem is how to increase the space utilization of the container used. There are some aspects to concern: order specifications (volume, weight, due date, and destination city), vehicle specifications (volume, weight, costs and availability), and route specifications (inter-city distances, maximum loads allowed for each route). The objective of the shipment consolidation is to minimize the total costs of the product shipments.there are some decisions must be determined simultaneously including : The decision of determining fleet configuration, which are the number, type of trucks, the routes used based on received orders, due dates and truck availability., The decision of determining the layout of loading goods into the truck in order to achieve optimum truck utilization. Considering the decision-making processes are complex, thus it is hard to execute manually, it requires software. We name the software, CONSLoad since it integrates shipment consolidation and container loading simultaneously. 2. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE In this section, we will discuss about our software system architecture.the system architecture of the software can be seen in figure 1. From the figure, it can be described as follows: 1. Each industry can request transportation to the transportation service providers through

3 the internet or mobile phone 2. Later, the transportation requests will be processed in order to determine cost sharing which is used along with the truck route and also the regulation of goods inside the truck. 3. There are three aspects are important to make consolidations, which are shipment orders alternative routes, and truck (and its dimension) availability. 4. The results of the software are : the consolidation shipment scenario and the container loading scenario Figure 1 System Architecture of Software 3. SOFTWARE DESIGN 3.1 Algorithm Figure 2 shows our simple algorithm software. Here, the first step is inputing order specification and truck avalibility current status. Both input will determine the vehicle assignment process. After determine the vehicle assignment, the next step is verifying whether the total order quantity exceed the capacity of truck or not. If the total order quantity do not exceed the capacity of truck, the next step is cargo loading and then order shipping. But if the total quantity of orders exceeds the capacity of the truck, the algorithm will bring the process to new truck assignment from other city. After new truck assignment process, the next step is verifying the expenditure capability. If the expenditure is capable, the next step is cargo loading and then order shipping. However if expenditure is not capable, the order will

4 queue for the first destinantion (city). Figure 2 Algorithm 3.2 Cargo Constraint In our software, we consider cargo constraint for loading and unloading process. There are three constraints that we built in our application software. They are weight constraint, maximum stacking constraint and rotation constraint. This following sentences are the explanation of the constraints. o Weight Constraint This restriction will limit the cargo with heavier weight to be placed on the lighter one. o Maximum Stacking Constraint This restriction will limit the number of piles or stack for the cargo in accordance with the specifications of the cargo o Rotation Constraint This restriction will limit how free the cargo can be rotate to its axis. Our software considers 3 ways of cargo rotation. They are one way rotation, 2 way rotation and six way rotation. From the figure 3, it shows that :

5 One way rotation occure in the condition where the cargo will be loaded has only one direction. It means width in the cargo grid will be loaded i the cross-container direction One way rotation occure in the condition where the cargo will be loaded has only one direction. It means width in the cargo grid will be loaded i the cross-container direction Two way rotation occure in the condition where the cargo will be loaded has only two direction. It means width and length may be swapped Six way rotation occure in the condition where the cargo will be loaded has only two direction. It means all possible turning, horizontal and vertical turning, considered. Figure 3 Rotation Constraint 3.3 Physical Design In our software development, we divide the software into three physical designs. They are maintenance, master data and transaction. Maintenance has a function to update existing data in database. This design section consists of Login Password and User Manager. This password has function for data security guarantee from unauthorized user. User manager has function to show anyone who is authorized to make changes to the software database. Master Data contains all the information needed at the time of the transaction. In Master data, it will be gathered data about customer, item, distance, vehicle, container, crew, city, country and province. Transaction design contains the sequence of steps performed in determining the combination of consolidation and delivery routes. Figure 4 shows our three physical designs.

6 Figure 4 Physical Design of the Software 4. SOFTWARE DESIGN In this section, it will be explained more about our developed software namely CONSLoad. The explanation below will describe the sequence of transaction operation for consolidation process of the CONSLoad. The process consists of three stages. They are: 1. Users who want to do transaction input data of order will be consolidated. The window form is showed in figure 5.

7 Figure 5 Order Input 2. Then updating available vehicles in the form of figure At this stage the consolidation process is conducted. The process consists of three steps : Step 1: This step is done on election purposes from several locations on the available data base in accordance with the objectives of the order that has been input. The window form is showed in figure 6. Figure 6 Vehicle Updating Process

8 Step 2: Step 2 is performed on the selection of the route will pass by a vehicle based on the goals set in the previous step 1. The window form is showed in figure 7. Figure 7 Form Consolidate Wizard in step 1: Order Destination Selection Step 3 : In the step 3, the form Consolidate Wizard will displays a list of available vehicle at the time of the consolidation process as shown in figure 8. From this list, user will select the truck that will be used to deliver the consolidation order.

9 Figure 8 Form Consolidate Wizard in step 2: Vehicle Route Selection Result: Figure 9 shows the results from the consolidation process that is displayed on the form Consolidate Wizard. In the form, it is shown some recommendation scenario of cost. Each scenario provides a different cost. User can select the appropriate scenario by clicking the check box of desired scenario. Once selected and click the button process to process the scenario selected in the form of visualization of the consolidation order (Figures 10 and 11).

10 Figure 9 Form Consolidate Wizard in step 3 : Vehicle Selection Figure 10 Form Consolidate Wizard : Result List

11 Figure 11 Results from visualization of the selected Scenario Consolidation The customer can also make order via web and mobile phone. Figure 12 shows order page on the website. By filling the information on this page, customer can make order without calling service center manually. Figure 12 Ordering Page on Consload Website

12 5. CONCLUSION We have developed software that can help for solving consolidation problems in industrial clusters. Our Software considers important aspects of shipment consolidation strategy and vehicle routing constraint so that it is easier for users to make a decision in the case of consolidation and also the determination of the route. REFERENCE Attanasio, A. Fuduli, A. Ghiani, G. Triki, C. (2007). Integrated Shipment Dispatching and Packing Problems : a Case Study. J Math Model Algor 6: Ballou, Ronald. H. (2004). Business Logistics Management. Prentice Hall, Inc. USA Chopra, Sunil,. and Peter Meindl (2001). Supply Chain Management : Strategy, Planning, and Operation. Prentice Hall, Inc.,New Jersey. Chen. C.S, Lee. S.M, dan Shen. Q.S (1995), An Analytical Model For The Container Loading Problem, European Journal Of Operitional Research 80,68-75.