Phd in INFRASTRUCTURES AND TRANSPORT

Thesis title: Improving the Service of Urban Logistics through a Web-Platform Solution: Efficiency Strategies from Operative Analysis

Urban logistics is an inefficient sector whose externalities directly impact city residents. A significant portion of this inefficiency stems from the lack of comprehensive IT systems capable of managing logistics services at all stages, leading to suboptimal transportation management. This study proposes a web-app platform designed to meet the needs of logistics companies, intending to improve operational efficiency with a high degree of customization and flexibility. The approach begins with real-world case studies, allowing the identification of two primary optimization paths: single-tour optimization and multi-day strategies. The first case falls within the literature on Vehicle Routing Problems, where the efficiency of heuristic algorithms has been analyzed. This class of algorithms proved to be more stable and practical for real-world applications. The combination of constructive and improving algorithms can drop the increment cost of generated routes up to 5\% in some cases. Multi-day delivery strategies have been found pivotal for resource optimization in multi-day scenarios. They were studied by abstracting key characteristics of logistics companies leading to synthetic replications of companies of various sizes and under different demand levels, ranging from low to high. The results are presented in the context of multi-criteria decision-making, with a focus on its application in sustainable logistics solutions.