Transportation and logistics management in a pump manufacturing industry involving subcontractors

In most industries today productivity improvement is a major cause for concern. This paper focuses on the logistics scenario followed by the company, involving contractors and subcontractors. In the company, more than 75% of the manufacturing processes are outsourced by the manufacturer and there is no orderly or pre-planned method to efficiently manage the logistics involved in outsourcing the required components. To help improve the current state, a Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) was solved applying the existing constraints. The solution was obtained based on the VRP concepts. ODL Studio, an open source and free software was used to solve this rich VRP formulated. The obtained results were integrated with a map showing the optimal transportation sequence and the routes to be taken, thus instructing the driver on the sequence to be followed. With a structured mathematical approach towards the transportation problem, the total distance traveled and time taken by the vehicle was reduced. With reduction in time, there is an increase in the number of products that are being worked on at the manufacturer's facility.