Routing and scheduling for a regional distribution fleet
A vehicle routing optimiser with time windows, vehicle types and driver rules produces daily plans that planners adjust, reducing kilometres and overtime while keeping delivery windows.
- Location
- Spain
- Duration
- 7 months
- -11%kilometres per delivery
- -33%driver overtime hours
- < 5 minto produce a daily plan for 38 vehicles
The challenge
Routes were planned by experienced staff in a spreadsheet each afternoon. Growth in drop points and tighter delivery windows had made the task slow, and overtime was rising.
What we did
Order, customer, vehicle and driver data were consolidated with cleaned addresses and measured service times. The problem was formulated as a rich vehicle routing problem with time windows, capacities and legal driving limits.
A metaheuristic solver produces plans within minutes; planners can pin or move stops and re-optimise, and every change is recorded with its cost effect.
Disruption scenarios such as a vehicle breakdown or a closed road were tested in simulation before go-live.
The outcome
Kilometres per drop fell by around a tenth and overtime hours by a third, with on-time delivery slightly improved.
A representative engagement. The figures are indicative of typical outcomes for this kind of work and are not drawn from a named client.
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