TY - JOUR
T1 - A joint sustainable order-packing vehicle routing optimisation for the cold chain e-fulfilment
AU - Tsang, Y. P.
AU - Ma, Haoran
AU - Tan, K. H.
AU - Lee, C. K.M.
N1 - Funding information:
The authors would like to thank the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for supporting
the project (Project Code: UAMX). This research is also funded by the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design, Hong Kong (Project Code: RP2-2) under the InnoHK Research Clusters, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.
Open access funding provided by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. This research is funded by the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design, Hong Kong (Project Code: RP2-2) under the InnoHK Research Clusters, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Due to the new normal caused by the pandemic, consumer behaviour has now shifted to online shopping not only for general commodities but also for food and other perishable products. Therefore, e-commerce fulfilment is now integrated with cold chain capabilities to satisfy stringent requirements on time-criticality and product quality, leading to the concept of cold chain e-fulfilment. In the cold chain e-fulfilment process, perishable orders are packed in thermal packaging solutions and delivered to consumers before the quality preservation time window. To secure a sufficient time buffer during last mile delivery, excessive use of thermal packaging materials is applied, which creates an adverse environmental impact on our eco-system. Aligning with low-carbon business practices, this study proposes a novel joint optimization model, namely the Joint Optimization of Sustainable Order Packing and Multi-Temperature Delivery Problem (JOSOPMDP), for order packing and vehicle routing decisions, where the sustainable use of thermal packaging materials is promoted without negatively influencing product quality and customer satisfaction. To evaluate its viability and performance, three sets of computational experiments are subsequently conducted. It is found that the proposed model is feasible to strike a balance between order packing and vehicle routing decisions. Compared with the traditional strategy, the average total cost and satisfaction level are improved by 3.26% and 47.88%, respectively. Consequently, this research fosters sustainable thinking in the cold chain e-fulfilment process, minimizing environmental impact.
AB - Due to the new normal caused by the pandemic, consumer behaviour has now shifted to online shopping not only for general commodities but also for food and other perishable products. Therefore, e-commerce fulfilment is now integrated with cold chain capabilities to satisfy stringent requirements on time-criticality and product quality, leading to the concept of cold chain e-fulfilment. In the cold chain e-fulfilment process, perishable orders are packed in thermal packaging solutions and delivered to consumers before the quality preservation time window. To secure a sufficient time buffer during last mile delivery, excessive use of thermal packaging materials is applied, which creates an adverse environmental impact on our eco-system. Aligning with low-carbon business practices, this study proposes a novel joint optimization model, namely the Joint Optimization of Sustainable Order Packing and Multi-Temperature Delivery Problem (JOSOPMDP), for order packing and vehicle routing decisions, where the sustainable use of thermal packaging materials is promoted without negatively influencing product quality and customer satisfaction. To evaluate its viability and performance, three sets of computational experiments are subsequently conducted. It is found that the proposed model is feasible to strike a balance between order packing and vehicle routing decisions. Compared with the traditional strategy, the average total cost and satisfaction level are improved by 3.26% and 47.88%, respectively. Consequently, this research fosters sustainable thinking in the cold chain e-fulfilment process, minimizing environmental impact.
KW - Cold chain
KW - E-fulfilment
KW - Last mile delivery
KW - Order packing
KW - Sustainability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85189372368&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10479-024-05949-y
DO - 10.1007/s10479-024-05949-y
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85189372368
SN - 0254-5330
JO - Annals of Operations Research
JF - Annals of Operations Research
ER -