Prof. Strauss is working together with colleagues from Warwick Business School (University of Warwick, UK) on a project to improve dynamic route planning in the B2B sector through targeted, pro-active contacting of regular customers. Together with the industry partner Slicker Recycling, the new concept is being developed and is currently being tested.
Slicker Recycling is the UK market leader in the collection and recycling of hazardous waste. Its main business is focused on the collection, processing and regeneration of waste oil, which is then sold in the UK or Europe.
The research project aims to reduce CO2 emissions, provide a better customer-oriented service at a lower price and increase customer satisfaction. This will be achieved by improving the speed of collection and by competitive pricing to reach smaller customers.
The project combines current research approaches from the fields of dynamic route planning and demand management; the core idea is to forecast the amount of waste oil at each customer and, based on this, to actively contact customers who are likely to have accumulated enough waste oil and whose location is favourable for ongoing route planning.
In a first working paper the approach is presented and it is shown that it allows significant reductions of the distances to be driven. Extensions of the concept are currently being developed.
The project is funded by Innovate UK and Slicker Recycling. Innovate UK is a public body funding innovative applied research in the United Kingdom.
