Optimization of the route of vehicles and their impacts in distribution logistics: a case study in a cleaning products distribuidor

Abstract

As a result of an increasingly dynamic and competitive market, logistics activities are highlighted as a competitive differential in an organization, requiring more and more efficient distribution systems, since transport costs represent the largest share among logistics costs. In this context, the present research aims to optimize the route of vehicles in a distributor of cleaning product. This way, the methodology used in this work consists of a case study, in which data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with the manager and other collaborators, along with the access to information from the ERP system of the organization. After obtaining the data, these were tabulated in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for further analysis through a comparison between the current and optimized route by LOGWARE logistical software. The results obtained indicate that companies can obtain significant benefits and improvements in the distribution logistics, which for this specific case analyzed during 18 days promoted a reduction in the displacement of 1487.3 km to 1303.8 km, in the service time of 20 min and also, a monetary economy of approximately 12.34% in their variable costs. Therefore, it is concluded that it is of fundamental importance the use of computational methods to aid in the elaboration of a distribution route in a company, especially considering the importance of transport costs in the total logistics cost.