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Home delivery service is one of the most important cost drivers in e-commerce industry. We consider the three-dimensional container packing problem under home delivery service, where each rectangular item with its specific destination is loaded orthogonally onto a rectangular container so that the utilization rate of the container space is maximized. In our framework, we assume the routing of a consignment to be given, which turns out that there is an order of unloading items with respect to the consignment. If we load items without considering the order of unloading items, we may unload and reload other unconcerned items drastically while unloading the required item. Therefore, in this paper, the unloading costs for a consignment are precisely defined according to the invisible and untouchable rule, and a subvolume scheme based algorithm is proposed. Our experimental results suggest our approach to be promising.

One of the most important operational management problems of a cross docking system is the truck scheduling problem. Cross docking is a logistics management concept in which products delivered to a distribution center by inbound trucks are immediately sorted out, routed and loaded into outbound trucks for delivery to customers. The truck scheduling problem in a multi-door cross docking system considered in this paper comprises the assignment of trucks to dock doors and the determination of docking sequences for all inbound and outbound trucks in order to minimize the total operation time. A mathematical model for optimal solution is derived, and the genetic algorithms (GAs) and the adaptive genetic algorithms (AGAs) as solution approaches with different types of chromosomes are proposed. The performance of the meta-heuristic algorithms are evaluated using randomly generated several examples.

The manager is responsible for the operations of a distribution center (DC) and multiple retail outlets selling a seasonal product. Initially, the DC keeps the inventory, which is allocated to the outlets in the season. There are inventory holding costs at the DC and the outlets; variable shipment cost for transferring inventory from the DC; fixed ordering cost and shortage cost at an outlet. Exact demand at each outlet is a decreasing function of price. To maximize the expected profit of the season, the manager needs to determine the markdown prices for retail outlets and quantity of inventory allocated to them. The problem can be modeled as a dynamic program (DP) which takes too heavy computational effort to solve. We develop a DP-based heuristic for solving the problem. The heuristic takes light computational effort and yet has good accuracy. Insights streamlining the markdown operations are deduced from the numerical results.

The total size of the edible oils market in India was estimated to be 13 million tons (mt) out of which imports amounted to about 4 mt. This made India the largest importer of edible oils in the world. Various edible oils are consumed in the India depending on the regional tastes and preferences. A differential in the duties on oil seed and oils made it favorable to import edible oils instead of oilseeds. Similarly, a differential duty between the refined oil and the raw oil encouraged the import of raw oil in order to support the domestic refineries.

Adani Wilmar Limited (AWL) was a part of the Adani group, which started as a trading company mainly into exports of commodities. The group had recently entered into the infrastructure sector with the building of the Mundra port. The group had formed a joint venture with Wilmar Trading of Singapore to enter into the edible oil business. The company was setting up a re.nery with capacity of 600 tons per day. It planned to sell half of the production as bulk oil and the rest as packed oil. The company viewed supply chain management as one of the important means to get a competitive edge. Approximately 70% of the total logistics cost was accounted for by transportation cost. Some of the key decisions the company faced was the location of the warehouses, mode choice and routing.

An efficient supply chain is the one which fastens the e-commerce processes to meet customers’ needs and expectations. Managing supply chains in e-commerce involves materials procurement, manufacturing and distribution of the required products to the customers in a timely manner. This process also includes warehousing, inventory tracking, demand and supply management, order entry and order management.

A well-structured and sustainable supply chain can enhance the productivity of e-commerce processes. This chapter presents an approach on how e-commerce is influencing supply chains and logistics. Also it discusses how analytics can be leveraged to improve the last mile delivery in e-commerce platforms.

From an analysis of how the logistics industry has evolved in China, this article puts forth a new concept of “logistics organizational network”. Based on analyses from socio-economic aspects, characteristics of logistics service and demand, and reforms in the regulatory framework for logistics management, this article concludes that future developments in the logistics industry will necessarily adopt a network-based approach.