More efficient urban freight consignment preparation and transportation

Two alternatives of consignment preparation in an urban distribution centre serving a network of hypermarkets are analysed. The first alternative looks at orders from retailers being prepared simultaneously. The selection criterion for consignment preparation is the type of product. After identification and pick-up from the storage areas simultaneously for all destinations, products are then sorted per destination. Quasi-simultaneously all the consignments are prepared for loading onto the delivery vehicles. The second alternative is looking at identification and pick-up from storage depending on the consignment destination. For each destination consignments are successively prepared. The comparison described in the paper between the two technologies (simultaneous and successive consignment preparation) highlights the advantages of the simultaneous consignment preparation. These technologies impact on delivery, with potential to be adapted to the retailers' requirements and avoid congested traffic conditions on urban arterial roads. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved