United Parcel Service of America, Inc.

Hongsheng Zhong

David R Zaret

Route planning methods for use by a package delivery service provider are disclosed that satisfy a stochastic daily demand while taking advantage of drivers' route familiarity over time. A model for estimating the value of driver familiarity is disclosed along with both an empirical and a mathematical model for estimating the value of route consistency, along with a Core Area Route Design which involves the concepts of combinatorial optimization, meta-heuristic algorithms, tabu search heuristics, network formulation modeling, and multi-stage graph modeling. In one embodiment, a service territory is divided into unassigned cells associated with a grid segment involving prior driver delivery stops, and a driver from a pool of unassigned drivers is assigned to a route based on examining each driver's grid segment visiting frequency limit with respect to a minimum limit so as to optimize driver selection based on of each driver's familiarity with the route.

Core area territory planning for optimizing driver familiarity and route flexibility

Route planning methods for use by a package delivery service provider are disclosed that satisfy a stochastic daily demand while taking advantage of drivers' route familiarity over time. A model for estimating the value of driver familiarity is disclosed along with both an empirical and a mathematical model for estimating the value of route consistency, along with a Core Area Route Design which involves the concepts of combinational optimization, meta-heuristic algorithms, tabu search heuristics, network formulation modeling, and multi-stage graph modeling. In one embodiment, a service territory is divided into unassigned cells associated with a grid segment involving prior driver delivery stops, and a driver from a pool of unassigned drivers is assigned to a route based on examining each driver's grid segment visiting frequency limit with respect to a minimum limit so as to optimize driver selection based on of each driver's familiarity with the route.

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Cockeysville, MD, United States of America

Hongsheng Zhong