Modeling shipment size and delivery days

In distribution models, it’s not uncommon to deal with shipment constraints such as truck size or specific delivery days between a distribution center and a shop.

In the following example, we will modify a simplified version of the distribution dataset to model a weekly shipment on Mondays from RDC to Brussels and bi-weekly shipments between RDC and Paris on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Each shipment is also constrained by a truck capacity. The truck size is limited to 10,000 kgs from RDC to Brussels and 20,000 kgs from RDC to Paris.

From a modeling point of view, here are the steps to follow:

• Create two different calendars, one for Paris shop and one for Brussels shop.

  Each calendar has a default value of 0 as the availability will be modelled in the calendar bucket rows A.

  The Paris calendar will have some availability on Tuesdays and Thursdays only B and the value for each day corresponds to the truck size i.e 20,000 C.

  The Brussels calendar will have some availability on Mondays only and the value of the calendar corresponds to the truck size i.e 10,000.

  Below is the calendar for Paris:

  

  The end time are set to 00:00:01 1 to ensure that:

  • All distribution orders will be generated at the same time (midnight) for a given day and not spread that day

  • Create an interruption between all days of the calendar to ensure the capacity is a daily capacity

• Then create a resource of type buckets and set the corresponding calendar as maximum calendar.

  

• Finally, in the item distribution table, set the resource column to Brussels when record is for Brussels and Paris when record is for Paris A.

  The resource quantity column needs to be set to the weight of the item B. If the resource and resource quantity columns are not be visible in table item distribution, you can make them appear using the wrench key icon C.

  

Note that this feature is currently not compatible with the fair share and push model functionalities, therefore the plan.solver parameter has to be set to heuristic to have this example properly working.

Check this feature on a live example

Download an Excel spreadsheet with the data for this example

After executing forecast and supply planning tasks, the proposed distribution orders will always be leaving RDC on Mondays when destination is Brussels and Tuesdays or Thursdays for Paris.

Furthermore, in the resource report, it is possible to monitor the weight that will be shipped each week for each location.

The available row correponds to the available truck capacity for a given week 1.

The load row correponds to the actual weight that will be transported during that week 2.