Data Intelligence for Logistics

Purolator是一家提供快递包裹递送服务的加拿大公司，面对激烈的竞争和电子商务服务的扩展等日益增长的挑战，它必须不断改善其运营，以满足客户的需求，同时保持其效率。该公司特别感兴趣的是分析执行其业务的替代方法，以降低其成本和环境足迹，同时提高其服务质量。这个为期5年的项目追求并显著扩展了Purolator与一群加拿大运输和物流领域领先研究人员之间始于2015年的合作。公司面临的挑战汇集了来自运筹学、土木工程和数据科学的专家，共同致力于开发方法和决策软件工具，以造福公司。该项目分为五个方面：1。城市物流该领域的重点是第一英里/最后一英里分配的设计，规划和运营，特别是在市中心地区。2.全国/区域分销网络规划。该领域致力于通过整合与枢纽位置和枢纽间多式联运（空中卡车）相关的决策，开发用于规划国家/区域分销网络的优化模型。3.供应链优化这一领域关注的是使供需同步的最佳方式，即研究市场，以及如何利用创新物流概念提供的各种服务尽可能有效地满足需求。4.新技术对网络优化的影响。在这方面，我们研究新技术对快递包裹递送服务的影响。新技术包括传感器的部署和创新车辆的可用性，如自动航天飞机和无人机。5.新经济的分销网络。该领域强调模型的开发，以设计和管理协作平台，以改善公司的物流。

Purolator, a Canadian company offering express package delivery services, has to improve its operations on a continuous basis in order to satisfy its customers, while maintaining its efficiency in the face of ever-growing challenges such as fierce competition and the expansion of e-commerce services. The company is particularly interested in the analysis of alternative ways to perform its operations that would reduce its costs and its environmental footprint, while improving its quality of service. This 5-year project pursues and significantly extends a collaboration that started in 2015 between Purolator and a group of leading Canadian researchers in transportation and logistics. The challenges faced by the company bring together specialists from operations research, civil engineering and data science, united towards the goal of developing methodology and decision-making software tools to the benefit of the company. The project is divided into five areas: 1. City Logistics. This area focuses on the design, planning and operations of First Mile/Last Mile distribution, in particular in downtown areas. 2. National/Regional Distribution Network Planning. This area is dedicated to the development of optimization models for planning national/regional distribution networks by integrating decisions related to hub locations and inter-hub multi-modal (air-truck) transportation. 3. Supply Chain Optimization. This area is concerned with the best ways to synchronize supply with demand, by studying the market and how demand can be met as efficiently as possible using various types of services that can be offered through innovative logistics concepts. 4. Impact of New Technologies on Network Optimization. In this area, we study the impact of new technologies on the express package delivery services. New technologies include the deployment of sensors and the availability of innovative vehicles, such as autonomous shuttles and drones. 5. Distribution Networks for the New Economy. This area emphasizes the development of models to design and manage collaborative platforms to improve the logistics of the company.