Logistics Flow Improvement in a Leather Goods Industry

This paper presents an optimization case study developed for a leather company, which aims to improve operational performance at the technical team level in routing and apply improvements that impact it. This project aims to create a route optimization model for what were initially intuitive routes. Since the assignment of work hours by the central team varies, there is a fluctuation in the material shipped to each customer. Considering that this fluctuation is relatively small and only happens every quarter, the fixed route system can be considered as functional, needing updating when there is a new time allocation. Thus, the objective is to minimize the total transportation cost, which in this case is provided by the cost per kilometer. To this end, five scenarios, obtained by a decision support tool, were studied. The VRPTW model, together with decisions concerning the routes, namely cross-docking in Orléans, allowed the reduction of costs by more than 30%, maintaining the customer's and company's requirements regarding the service level. These gains refer to one of the scenarios studied, in which it was possible to guarantee all last-mile distribution with three vans, within expected time windows and demands. Although the scenario with the greatest margin for gains is the one that presents a distribution center according to the gravity method, it also requires renting a warehouse in the Perrusson area (area indicated by the gravity method).