When a trailer has been loaded with one or more shipments but there is still capacity for additional shipments, a request could be made to the optimizer to add additional shipments to the load. The assumption would be that the trailer has already been loaded with the goods represented by the shipments currently attached to the load and that any additional shipments would be placed on the back (tail) of the trailer. Loads of this type would be sent to optimizer with the expectation that they will be modified only if the change improves the overall cost of the plan.
If the optimization strategies dictate that loads honor the LIFO and/or the No Interleaving constraints, a Packed load can only be amended if it honors these restrictions, even if this means leaving capacity unused. Loads passed to optimizer that already violate these constraints will not be modified.
If a load is already scheduled to make pickups at two different locations, optimizer will assume that goods from both pick-up locations are already loaded onto trailer and that any additional shipments would be added after the goods being picked up at the second stop. This assumption will be made regardless of the status of the load (load stop confirmation for the first stop is not required).
The optimization parameter Allow Revisiting will control whether the same shipping location will be visited more than once. For Packed loads, the itinerary for the load will already be partially set.
For example: Assume all of these shipments originate at the same distribution center:
Shipment / Destination Cross Reference
Shipment |
Destination |
|---|---|
A |
Store 1 |
B |
Store 2 |
C |
Store 1 |
D |
Store 2 |
E |
Store 3 |
Assume a Packed load already contains Shipment A in the nose of the trailer followed by Shipment B: if the Allow Revisiting control is False, optimizer would never add Shipment C to this load as this would require the load to visit Store 1 on two different occasions; optimizer could add Shipment D as goods for this shipment can be loaded immediately after Shipment B, requiring only one stop at Store 2; optimizer could also add Shipment E as Store 3 is not already on the load's itinerary; if Allow Revisiting is True, optimizer could add Shipments C, D or E to the existing load.
Loads in any of the following Operational statuses could be in Packed Planning Status: Open, Planed, Tendered, Tender Accepted, Tender Rejected.