Dynamic Vehicle Dispatching: Optimal Heavy Traffic Performance and Practical Insights

Noah Gans and Garrett van Ryzin
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Noah Gans: OPIM Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6366
Garrett van Ryzin: Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027

Operations Research, 1999, vol. 47, issue 5, 675-692

Abstract: We analyze a general model of dynamic vehicle dispatching systems in which congestion is the primary measure of performance. In the model, a finite collection of tours are dynamically dispatched to deliver loads that arrive randomly over time. A load waits in queue until it is assigned to a tour. This representation, which is analogous to classical set-covering models, can be used to study a variety of dynamic routing and load consolidation problems. We characterize the optimal work in the system in heavy traffic using a lower bound from our earlier work (Gans and van Ryzin 1997) and an upper bound which is based on a simple batching policy. These results give considerable insight into how various parameters of the problem affect system congestion. In addition, our analysis suggests a practical heuristic which, in simulation experiments, significantly outperforms more conventional dispatching policies. The heuristic uses a few simple principles to control congestion, principles which can be easily incorporated within classical, static routing algorithms.

Keywords: transportation; freight/materials handling; queueing analysis of dynamic load; consolidation problems; transportation; vehicle routing; queueing analysis of dynamic routing problems; queues; applications; dynamic vehicle dispatching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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