Abstract

Shipping Logistics Study for a Greenhouse/Growhouse in Southeastern Montana
Track: Transportation
Authors: Andrew Davis

Using ArcLogistics and Network Analyst, a shipping logistics study was produced for the Montana Small Business Development Center's (SBDC) newly planned greenhouse/growhouse. ArcLogistics and Network Analyst allowed for the optimization of shipping routes based on fuel efficiency, time windows, drive time limits, traffic congestion, and available resources (i.e. number of trucks on the road). When compared to the original vehicle routing plan for this growhouse, this project produced shipping logistics that saw a decrease in fuel costs, because of a decrease in the number of trucks used and an increase in route lengths, without the violation of drive time limits for the drivers. This project saved the SBDC from a loss funds due to non-optimized vehicle routing, reinforced the known capabilities of the ArcLogistics software and the Network Analyst tool set, and can be used as a reference for vehicle routing problems in the future.