Parcel Transportation Services: Performance Evaluation and Improvement Using Markov Models

Abstract

Parcel transportation services refer to the collection or delivery of small packages from or to customers in several trips. Due to dynamic demands and complex routings of the trips, the performance measures of parcel transportation services such as travel cost and service levels are difficult to be accurately predicted. In the thesis, parcel transportation services are characterized as Markov models to estimate the transportation costs, service levels and other performance measures. Based on these estimations, parcel transportation service providers are able to evaluate their business and make management decisions on the price, the order acceptance and the design of the transportation network. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed Markov models are capable of providing fast and reliable estimations of various performance measures and they can also assist transportation service providers to make management decisions and to resolve realistic problems.