Dock and crew scheduling in a parcel delivery station
Which crew unloads which truck, at which door and in which order — so the delivery vans leave on time in the morning?
Drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom. The schedule below plays the plan; hover a bar for details. Plan computed with a Timefold model.
The planning question
Overnight linehaul trucks unload at 12 doors into a sorter rated at 6,000 parcels per hour, which feeds 78 van bays on three delivery fingers. The vans of the first wave leave at fixed times, a second wave of e-vans follows later. Which truck is unloaded first decides which tours are complete in time.
How we plan it
The Timefold model looks at the tours behind every truck: unloading the truck that feeds the earliest tours first beats first-come, first-served.
What the plan shows
| KPI | Optimized plan | Comparison: first come, first served |
|---|---|---|
| late tours | 23 −21 | 44 |
| late parcels | 7,315 −5,531 | 12,846 |
| tardiness (min) | 92 −436 | 528 |
| truck waiting (min) | 264 −1 | 265 |
Decisions
- door and unloading crew per truck
- unloading sequence
- start time per truck
Constraints
- one truck per door, crews with limited capacity
- sorter throughput
- van departure times per wave
- truck arrival times
Objective
as few late tours and late parcels as possible, short truck waiting times
Questions
Why not first-come, first-served?
Because the trucks carry parcels for different tours. Unloading in arrival order often leaves early tours incomplete while late tours wait full.
Does it work with live arrival times?
Yes. Truck ETAs from telematics update the plan continuously.
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