Download Ta-Q-Bin “Bus Stop” Operation

An Innovation in Last-Mile Delivery: Ta-Q-Bin
“Bus Stop” Operation
Ng Liang Wei
Abstract
Ta-Q-Bin is a subsidiary of Yamato Transport and is one of Japan’s largest express delivery
companies targeted at the personal parcel delivery market segment. Due to unique challenges
posed by the highly urbanized Japanese environment in which it operates, Ta-Q-Bin has devised
an innovative mode of operation known as “Bus Stop” Operation for its last-mile delivery.
In this thesis, we first provide a detailed documentation of “Bus Stop” Operation, starting with
the motivations for its development, its benefits as well as future plans for expanding its
implementation. Next, we formulate “Bus Stop” Operation as a stochastic vehicle routing
problem. Consistent with Yamato Transport’s strong emphasis on customer satisfaction, the
proposed model balances operating cost with the penalty cost of service failure. In order to
solve the model, solution heuristics are modified from existing ones, and it was found that
these heuristics are able to generate solutions of good quality. Finally, we provide some
managerial insights into the implementation of “Bus Stop” Operation. In particular, we consider
two questions: the conditions under which “Bus Stop” Operation is superior to conventional
operation, and the tradeoff between labor cost and service level.