Characteristic
Short description
The PTV xTour service plans tours consisting of stops at different sites. Those stops and included pickup, delivery and visit tasks to be carried out at the corresponding location have a certain service time. This service time is influenced by different parameters. The following technical concept explains in which cases these parameters are useful and how they influence the service time of stops and tasks.
Use
The following technical concept explains in which cases these parameters are useful and how they influence the service time of stops and tasks.
Detailed Consideration
Overall service time of a stop
For every visit of a site along a tour, there is a stop with a certain service time. During the service time, tasks are carried out. The total service time of a stop is the sum
- of the time it takes to carry out all the tasks at this stop and
- a once-per-stop service time.
Once-per-stop service time
The once-per-stop service time is determined by the following fields:
- Site.serviceTimePerStop: Each site is different. The drivers may have to register first before entering the site. They may have to do some paperwork before and/or after loading or unloading their vehicle
The term vehicle describes what is being routed or planned for. Vehicles are used in route calculation, distance matrix calculation and effectively also in tour planning. In route calculation, vehicle properties like overall size, weight and speed are in focus. In tour planning, it is vehicle properties like capacity and availability.
Commonly a vehicle is motorized, like a truck - including its trailer or a car. However also a bike or even a pedestrian are included in this definition.. All of these times that essentially depend on the site are intended to be summed up in the field serviceTimePerStop of the site. - DepotSite.additionalServiceTimePerPickupStop and DepotSite.additionalServiceTimePerDeliveryStop: In addition to Site.serviceTimePerStop it might be helpful to define an additional service time for pickup or delivery depot stops. For example when a driver starts a trip at a depot he might need to check the load on the vehicle and the vehicle itself which is not necessary when returning the empty vehicle to the depot.
- Vehicle.serviceTimePerStop: Each vehicle is different. Some vehicles have trailers. Some vehicles have doors, some have a lifting platform. Every time the vehicle stops at a site, the drivers will have to maneuver their vehicle which is more difficult if there is a trailer attached. And it takes time to open the vehicle and prepare it for loading/unloading. All of these times that essentially depend on the vehicle are intended to be summed up in the field serviceTimePerStop of the vehicle.
These service times arise every time the vehicle stops at a certain site. Hence the once-per-stop service time is the sum of all of those service times.
There is one exception: Every customer site has an optional field customer id. Should the vehicle stop at a sequence of customer sites for which the same customer id is set, the once-per-stop service time is only considered at the first stop of the sequence. So the once-per-stop service time may even be a once-per-customer service time. The start of service at each stop in a sequence of stops at customer sites with the same customer id must still lie within one of the opening intervals. Please note that the same customer id may only be set for two different customer sites if they only differ in the location id and the opening intervals.
Task service time
A task can be a pickup task, a delivery task, or simply a visit task. Depending on the type, the service time for a task is one of the following:
Each task is different: Large or heavy items may require a longer time to load and unload. Orders that require extensive load securing will also take longer to execute. The time needed to execute an order may also depend on the equipment of the site that is associated with the order. For a visit order the service time is the time needed to perform the activity at the customer. All these parameters are contained within the task service time.
The service time for a task may be adjusted. There are two fields that control this adjustment:
- Vehicle.serviceTimeFactorForOrders: Each vehicle is different. It may have equipment that allows faster loading, unloading or load securing. A vehicle may be equipped with a forklift that allows faster loading and unloading.
- Site.ignoreVehicleDependentServiceTimeFactorForOrders: The service time factor of a vehicle may only be relevant for sites that lack a certain equipment. Therefore a site can ignore the vehicle dependent service time factor for orders.
The service time for a task is multiplied by the factor of the vehicle unless the site where the task is carried out demands to ignore the vehicle’s factor.
Example
There is a depot and a customer. Two differently sized packages should be transported from the depot to the customer and one package should be transported from the customer back to the depot.
The task-dependent service times were estimated by the client as follows:
- Pickup tasks at the depot have task-dependent service times of 2 and 8.
- The three tasks at the customer have task-dependent service times 5, 7 and 18.
- The final delivery task at the depot has a task-dependent service time of 10.
Vehicle and Sites have the following properties:
- Vehicle.serviceTimeFactorForOrders: The used vehicle has a lifting platform and a large hand truck. This minimizes the delivery time by 20% (factor 0.8) compared to the standard vehicle without lifting platform and with a small hand truck.
- DepotSite.additionalServiceTimePerPickupStop At the depot there is an additional service time per stop of 30 time units for checking the load on the already packed vehicle.
- Site.serviceTimePerStop: Registration and parking in second row takes 7 time units at the customer.
- DepotSite.additionalServiceTimePerDeliveryStop: The additional delivery time at the depot and the service time per stop is 0.
- Vehicle.serviceTimePerStop: The vehicle dependent service time for the stop is 3 time units.
In general the service time for a stop is calculated as follows: Site.serviceTimePerStop + additionalServiceTimePerPickup/DeliveryStop for DepotSites + Vehicle.serviceTimePerStop + task dependent stop service times * serviceTimeFactorForOrders.
Total service time for pickups at depot = 0 + 30 + 3 + (2 + 8) * 0.8 = 41
Total service time for deliveries and pickup at customer = 7 + 0 + 3 + (5 + 7 + 18) * 0.8 = 34
Total service time for delivery at depot = 0 + 0 + 3 + 10 * 0.8 = 11
For a more detailed example and explanation on how to integrate the service time parameters into your personal use case, see Using Different Service Time Settings.
Good to know
Service at "Split Stops"
A stop is always part of exactly one trip. If a trip begins on the same site as the previous trip ended, there are two stops, one for each trip. Hence, there is a once-per-stop service time for each of the two stops, even though the vehicle may not have left and re-entered the site.
Related Topics
| Technical Concept | Orders, Locations, and Stops |
| Integration Sample | Using Different Service Time Settings |