SOM II, sub-project: Parcel logistics in the city
Imagine if your parcel deliveries came to an outdoor box near your residence. Perhaps it would mean that it became such a short distance so you could walk instead of taking the car to collect and maybe it would suit you better to do so after a regular drop-off point's closing time. It is Dipp-R that developed this new concept for managing “the last mile” of logistics chains in e-commerce. Within the SOM project, in collaboration with Malmö University, they made a simulation of what this logistics solution could mean in the residential area Västra Hamnen in Malmö.
Finanisär
The vision of Dipp-R logistics solution is to have special electrified vehicles leaving out boxes at various locations in a city. The cabinets are equipped with intelligent locking systems, camera surveillance and connectivity. The smart boxes can be equipped with various sensors (such as GPS, temperature, humidity, movement or battery status) to be able to monitor the status of both the package and the box. The boxes consist of a number of compartments containing supplies for those living in the area, and the boxes would be deployed more densely than regular drop-off points and be available around the clock. The delivery in the box is only available for a certain period of time, after which the vehicles pick up the box again. Because the boxes are run out by quiet electric vehicles, deliveries can also take place at night or at other times when there is no rush hour traffic in the area.
Malmö University, City of Malmö and Dipp-R (which is a spinoff from Smarter Mobility) conducted a preliminary study of the concept in the fall of 2020. The aim was to investigate how the new transport concept can be implemented and integrated into society. This was done partly through an external analysis of existing solutions and partly through a simulation of different scenarios in a digital twin. In order to analyze different delivery scenarios, they developed a simulation model with inputs that are close to reality. The simulation sought answers to many questions, including how good the smart boxes are compared to other solutions, such as mileage, accessibility, environmental impact and congestion.
Other questions that were also sought were how big the boxes should be, how many delivery slots are needed, how long the boxes should remain on site, how the boxes should be loaded, what sensors are needed and more. The mileage was compared with existing solutions and the project concluded that the strength of the Dipp-R concept lies in the number of packages that can be promoted at each exit and in the ability to use the vehicles almost 24 hours a day. Various simulations show that customers' mileage would decrease to such a degree that it compensates for the increased mileage of the vehicle driving out the boxers.
In the project, it was seen that some good effects of this could be to streamline logistics for companies, to reduce the environmental impact and congestion in traffic, but also to make it easier for customers to pick up the packages through increased availability.
“Our simulations show that this concept has the potential to both reduce the environmental impact of e-commerce and improve accessibility for customers,” says Paul Davidsson, professor of computer science at Malmö University in an interview from January 2021.
What was the result?
The external analysis compared, for example, the mileage between the delivery points of other relevant freight companies (PostNord and Bring) and the configuration of their vehicles with the DIPP-R concept. It turned out that the strength of the DIPP-R concept lies in the capacity (number of packages) that can be promoted at each exit, as well as the possibility of maximizing the utilization of the vehicles almost around the clock.
How is the project taken forward?
The simulation developed in this preliminary study allows the comparison of different designs of the service (e.g. number and capacity of the boxes, locations and exit strategies) taking into account various financial ratios, but also the analysis of how customers use and experience the service. In the modeled scenario, we examined a neighborhood of Malmö to demonstrate the potential of the simulation. In order to assess the viability of the concept, as well as to be able to identify the most suitable service configuration (number of vehicles, number of boxes, position of both sites and the depot), the scenario should be extended to the entire city. It also means a deeper understanding of customers' wishes and behaviours in order to be able to model pick-up times in a more realistic way but also to be able to simulate the pick-up of packages on e.g. the journey home from work. Effects of uncollected packets and return flows can also be studied more closely.
Facts sub-project Parcel logistics in the city
The project is a sub-project of the SOM project is part of the Strategic Innovation Programme for the Internet of Things, IoT Sweden, which is funded by Vinnova. Anders Trana at Future by Lund was the project manager for the entire project. The project started on 1 September 2017 and ran until December 2020.
Project Time: 01/10/2020 - 18/12/2020
Project Manager: Paul Davidsson, Malmö University
Partnerschappen: Malmö University, Dipp-R, City of Malmö, Lund University, Capacent,
