Determination of Fleet Size for LTL Transportation With Dynamic Demand

This study suggests an approach for determining fleet size for LTL (less -than-truckload) transportation with dynamic demand for on-time supply of the parts between the assembly line in an automobile company and its part suppliers in Korea. The vehicles operated by the transportation trucking companies in Korea in general can be classified into three types depending on the ways how their expenses occur; company -owned truck, mandated truck which is owned by outsider who entrusts the company with its operation, and rented truck (outsourcing) . With the forecasted monthly production data a year, a heuristic algorithm is developed to determine the number of company-owned trucks, mandated trucks, and rented trucks in order to minimize the expected annual operating cost, which is based on the solution technologies used in the aggregate production planning and vehicle routing problem. Finally the algorithm is tested for the problem how the trucking company transports parts for the automobile company.