OPTIMIZING LTL TERMINAL PERFORMANCE BY SIMULATION

摘要

The structure of a less than truckload (LTL) terminal can be generally distinguished between the yard and the terminal building itself. The operational processes of the LTL terminal on the yard as well as inside the terminal building have high impact on handling costs. Both subsystems are required to be synchronized in order to provide overall best performance of the terminal. We introduce a simulation-based method to optimize the handling processes in LTL terminals. Furthermore, we present case studies and experimental results which confirm the enhanced performance by using our method. In this method, simulation was used for optimal positioning of the unloading areas and the optimization of controlling shunting tasks. In addition, simulation was applied to study the changing of travel paths, management of internal buffer areas as well as improvement of dispatching strategies. Conducted experiments show an increase of terminal performance of 4% to 30%, depending on the aspects which have been improved. Subsequently, these variations lead to decreased handling costs and support terminal managers as well as research on efficient terminal operations and management.