Utilizing Prometheus Design Tool for Truck Load Consolidation Decisions

Abstract

Load consolidation decisions constitute one of the most important operational decisions in logistics. In demand-driven truckload shipment businesses, third-party logistics companies (or agencies) try to assign orders to the most appropriate trucks which are available for the load assignment. Efficiency and the effectiveness of the load consolidation decisions directly affect the success of any logistics operation. This is mainly because the utilization of the transportation vehicles directly affects the cost of transportation services provided. Agent-based concepts are considered as novel system approaches which have effective mechanisms for modeling dynamic systems like the truck load consolidation decisions within third party logistics operations. In this paper, truck load consolidation decisions are designed by utilizing Prometheus Design Tool (PDT) which is based on Prometheus design methodology and developed for specifying and designing agent-oriented software systems.