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Showing posts with label Reverse Logistics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reverse Logistics. Show all posts

April 27, 2021

Supply chain sessions #1 - Systems Analytics Global Leaders' Seminars: Professor Christopher Tang, UCLA (October 7, 2020)

Key Notes
  • Faster Delivery, Smart Order Assignments on On-demand meal delivery platform

  • Mobile / Internet-based / They do not own content
  • High value, Zero ownership of assets
  • Platform types (Ecommerce / Resource sharing)
  • Value creation / Markets creation

  • Money made by commissions / Free for customer
  • Impact and benefits - Wider impact, New jobs creation


  • Scopus / Google Scholar for papers
  • Meal delivery platforms
  • Order meals, App, list restaurants, delivery partner

  • Platform overview
  • Three-sided market
  • Platform = Customers, Restaurants, Drivers
  • Charge customers + Restaurants
  • Required time (area of research)


  • Platform operations
  • App overview
  • Price
  • Order time 
  • Delivery Time Estimation
  • Preorder for next day 


  • Polling to schedule drivers 
  • Wait time at restaurants
  • On-time / Delayed Delivery
  • Factors affecting delivery performance
  • Future customer perspectives



  • Behavior for future orders
  • Shangai city data
Insights
  • Distribution for Long orders by time(By Distance)
  • Distribution for Short orders by time  (By Distance)
  • Peak Hours
  • Average delivery time for different routes
  • Average delivery time for different restaurants
  • %% of Ontime delivery by time
  • %% of Early vs Late orders
  • Repeating orders 
  • Pricing by peak hour / demand / rule based / recommendation based
  • Offer conversions
  • Revenue metrics by Restaurants
  • Revenue metrics by Days
  • Revenue metrics by Customer Segments
  • Driver delivery metrics 
  • Congestion levels of Traffic / Temperature / Seasonality
  • Driver familiarity with the route





Use cases
  • Customer churn
  • Driver churn
  • Next order prediction based on intervals
  • Repeat order customer
  • Rare customer
  • Empirical work before prescriptive
  • Performance on future orders
  • Survival analysis
  • Models
  • Aalen Additive model

    • Regression model for delivery performance time with features like experience, restaurant distance, order estimated time, waiting time
     



    • Delivery experience vs Future orders relationship
  • Estimate delivery time for order
  • Driver location estimation for assignment
  • Total delivery time for order
  • Total delay
  • Maximum future orders
  • Discourage late delivery with incentives 
  •  






    Predicting Shipping Time with Machine Learning

    Package Delivery Time dataset

    Using Machine Learning computing, we developed a model capable of improving the predictability of shipping times

    Key Notes

    The important milestones for this project are, in chronological order:

    • The booking date, which is the date when the transport from origin to final destination is booked (called “book date” in the dataset);
    • The receive date, which is the date when the cargo is received by the shipper at the port of origin (called “Actual Receipt Date” in the dataset);
    • The gate-in date, which is the date when the cargo enters the yard where it will wait to be loaded on the vessel (called “Gate In Origin-Actual” in the dataset);
    • The vessel departure date, which is the date when the cargo leaves the port of origin (called “Vessel Actual Departure” in the dataset)
    • The vessel arrival date, which is the date when the cargo arrives at the port of destination (called “Vessel Actual Arrival-Actual” in the dataset)
    • The unload date, which is the date when the cargo is unloaded from the vessel (“Container Unload From Vessel-Actual”)

    Selecting relevant external factors

    • Chinese New Year
    • Port Congestion US
    • Weather
    • Positioning of the Container on the vessel

    Selecting features for the Machine Learning model

    • Average time spent at Port of origin (Port of origin mean) - The average is based on the different shipper and port combinations
    • Standard deviation of time spent at Port of origin (Port of origin SD) - The standard deviation is based on the different shipper and port combinations
    • Average time spent at Port of destination (Port of destination mean)
    • Standard deviation of time spent at Port of destination (Port of destination SD)
    • Average time spent per Route (Route mean)
    • Schedule
    • Origin Service
    • Holiday
    • Quarter
    • Expected Time to port
    • Port of origin late
    • Port of origin latest
    • Capacity of port of destination
    • Late departure

    From startup - https://nextbillion.ai/blog

    Key Metrics

    • Delivery time = Promised ETA ± Threshold time for the territory
    • Promise kept metric = (Number of accurate orders / total orders of the day) X 100%
    • For the end-consumer, the role played by an ETA begins even before the service request is placed
    • For the delivery agent/driver, an accurate ETA sets a service promise that needs to be met.
    • A great metric to track the impact of ETAs on pricing is the % of orders/rides that are priced accurately.

    Keep Thinking!!!

    March 15, 2010

    Deep Dive into Reverse Logistics

    I registered myself to http://www.reverselogisticstrends.com/. You can access free downloads sections for good articles. Articles Reverse Logistics = Service Logistics, Reverse Logistics Checklist are very good reads.

    Reverse Logistics Checklist provides clear directions while dealing with Customers
    I am summarizing the checklist below
    Prereturn - Clear Packaging Instructions, Warranty lookup from site, Warranty Registration directly based on customer registering the product, Self Test - Providing Diagnostic software for customer to test at this place
    Return Request - Self ServiceRequest Creation, Request Acknowledgement through email, Call centre having visibility of stock available for replacement
    Return Processing - Status lookup phone/website, Status update emails, Customer Survey
    Having Joint Metrics defined with partners and tracking them on a timely manner would also help to focus on right areas of improvement.

    If you want to know features of a Reverse Logistics Software refer the brochure for
    BacTracs-Reverse Logistics Management System. This would give you good insight on Reverse Logistics implementation. Warranty Life Cycle Management

    March 11, 2010

    What is Reverse Logistics.....

    Reverse logistics has been defined as “... the term most often used to refer to the role of logistics in product returns, source reduction,recycling, materials substitution, reuse of materials,waste disposal, and refurbishing, repair and remanufacturing.” (Link)

    A very good comparision on forward logistics vs reverse logistics presented below. Source Reverse Logistics Association.
    Do find time to check Reverse Logistics Wiki
    Reverse Logistics Framework as provided in Wiki. This kind of completely covers End-to-End Reverse Logistics Operations.

    Very good white paper from UPS on ReverseLogistics
    Key Learnings as Captured in paper as Summary
    • Customer retention/satisfaction - Post Purchase Support for Repair is very important for better customer satisfaction
    • Container reuse
    • Recycling programs (Transport packaging)
    • Damaged material returns
    • Asset recovery/restock
    • Downstream excess inventory (Seasonality)
    • Hazardous material programs
    • Obsolete equipment disposition
    • Recalls
    A good Example is also provided in the paper.
    Possible options for reclaimed product
    • Refurbish (Improve product beyond original specs)
    • Recondition (Return product to original specs)
    • Salvage (Separate components for reuse)
    • Repair (Prepare for sale as a used product)
    • Sell to 3rd Party
    • Recycle
    • Discard/Liquidation (Landfill)


    Other Good Reads you may like
    How to Develop A Reverse Logistics Strategy
    Improve Your Business Applications
    Advanced Exchange Service Model and the Secret of the ‘Black Hole’
    Analysis of Reverse Logistics
    Reverse Logistics Metrics (Customer Satisfaction, Financial Performance, Manufacturing (or Returns Processing and Refurbishment), Transportation and Warehousing)
    Supply Chain Metrics