Pallet: improving efficiency in the transport sector with a multi-agent approach

Abstract

In the transport sector, pallets are often not used efficiently. Especially for large companies, it is difficult to keep track of pallets, resulting in a pallet surplus at many locations where pallets are shipped to and from. Ahrma, a Dutch start-up, has built an infrastructure to track pallets. Based on this infrastructure, a Multi-Agent System named Pallet has been designed for improving efficiency in pallet allocation. Every location is assigned its own agent and transports between locations that do not carry a full truckload are assigned empty pallets to transport them from locations with a pallet surplus to locations with a potential pallet deficit. Through simulations, the efficiency improvement is measured. Efficiency is measured using three KPIs. Pallet improves efficiency on all three KPIs, but the outcomes generated by Pallet are not guaranteed to be optimal and the outcomes produced are hard to predict. More research is needed to conclude if Pallet will improve efficiency in practice.