Realizing higher efficiency in the Last-Mile Delivery
Sami Ozarik defended his PhD thesis at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences on November 15th
The so-called Last Mile Delivery is often the most expensive and crucial final stage of the supply chain. This stage, accounting for 30% of total costs, requires accurate decision-making for flawless delivery to consumers. In his PhD research, Sami Ozarik focuses on developing and demonstrating data-driven methods to achieve efficient last-mile logistics.
By working on data-driven vehicle routing problems, the future is more accurately predicted and optimized. For his research Ozarik integrates data-driven methods into the optimization models, allowing actions during execution to benefit directly. One significant contribution is the emphasis on customer availability profiles in routing and scheduling decisions. In addition, the research incorporates tacit knowledge of experienced drivers into route planning using historical route data. This approach significantly increases the efficiency of logistics services, a promising advance in last-mile logistics.
The research shows that data-driven decision-making can contribute to higher efficiency of this essential stage of the supply chain while increasing the customer satisfaction via improved successful delivery rates.
Title of the thesis: " Data-Driven Decision Making in Last-Mile Logistics.". Supervisors: Tom van Woensel, Virginie Lurkin, Luuk Veelenturf