Do you see what I see? A simulation analysis of order bundling within a transparent user network in geographic space

Abstract

Assuming the universal network openness, the users can tap into the PI network and place orders which will be assigned to the nearest available transport service and consequently delivered to the order sender. The objective of our paper is to investigate the impact of stochastic insertion of service points into existing dedicated freight flows of a service driven company. We simulate different transparency levels, routings and pick-up locations, and evaluate the impact in terms of altered lead-times, covered distances and fill rates. The novel aspects presented herein are 1) deliveries based on decentralized location detection of the nearest order sender, 2) dynamically changing speed parameters within specific geographic clusters based on geo-locations of agents to account for congestion levels, 3) more realistic routing strategies that consider the urban layout and 4) transparent querying of nearest agents in space and time that meet specific conditions such as current ongoing processes, available capacity and position. Finally, we identifying impact from a holistic/system perspective based on emergence of individual asset performances.