The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Operational decision · 2012–2014
Nabuurs cut labor and transport cost by planning all its depots together.
The Benelux logistics provider moved from single-depot to centralized multidepot planning, validated with simulation, reducing labor and transport costs.
Nabuurs B.V.
The solution
Distribution networks at many logistics providers grew from single depots into complex, dynamic multidepot networks. With single-depot planning, each depot plans only its own deliveries and drivers return to their starting depot for each new order.
Nabuurs B.V., a large Benelux logistics service provider, implemented a centralized, automated multidepot planning process across the organization. Researchers built a simulation model to evaluate system performance and address reliability, customization, and flexibility challenges.
The simulation tests showed how combining resources across depots reduces labor and transport costs, and Nabuurs' management implemented the specific recommendations.
Why it worked
- Deliveries planned simultaneously across depots let resources combine instead of deadheading back to base.
- Simulation let Nabuurs test the new process before committing to it.
- Centralized automation replaced fragmented local planning with one consistent plan.
What can be applied
If every depot optimizes its own routes, network-level savings never appear; centralizing the plan—and testing it in simulation first—lets the fleet do more with the same drivers.
Aftermath
Nabuurs embedded the centralized multidepot process throughout its organization, and the study appeared in Interfaces in 2014.
Sources
- Multidepot distribution planning at logistics service provider Nabuurs B.V.
- Multidepot Distribution Planning at Logistics Service Provider Nabuurs B.V.
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