Internet-of-Things-based just-in-time milk-run logistics routing system

Large manufacturers in an industrial park often employ small-batch and high-frequency milk-run logistics (MRL) for materials collection from multiple suppliers. MRL has to be attuned to manufacturers´ production progress in a just-in-time (JIT) manner so as to ensure a complete production material supplies required by BOM (bill-of-materials). However, the route planning problem has been regarded as a key challenge preventing the wider prevalence of MRL especially when serving for Just-in-Time (JIT) operations. Multiple MRL collaborators and optional transportation paths has complicated the route planning on the one hand, while the various execution dynamics frequently fail the route plan on the other. This paper proposes an Internet-of-Things-based JIT MRL Routing System (iMRS) adopts a two-level adaptive decision mechanism which makes iterative route planning based on the real-time execution dynamics to realize adaptive control of MRL dynamics.