Delivery support system

Abstract

To provide a system that reduces the likelihood that a delivery will be delivered behind the delivery schedule.SOLUTION: A system comprises a delivery request information acquisition unit that acquires delivery request information containing a delivery destination of a delivery, a delivery amount thereof, and a delivery time thereof, a delivery vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires delivery vehicle information containing the number of delivery vehicles and a load of the delivery vehicle, and a delivery plan generation unit that generates a delivery plan based on the delivery request information and the delivery vehicle information. The delivery plan generation unit acquires a plurality of delivery plans for each different delivery time. If the delivery plan that cannot comply with the delivery time is acquired, the delivery time is fixed so that the delivery included in the delivery plan that cannot comply with the delivery time will be delivered at a time before the delivery plan.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a delivery assistance system. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there is known a technique for creating a delivery plan when delivering packages to multiple delivery destinations. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for creating a delivery plan according to the cost of delivery based on the amount of packages to be delivered, the number of delivery vehicles, and the number of delivery personnel. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-4181 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The delivery plan described in Patent Document 1 is configured to postpone some deliveries to the next day or later if the delivery deadline cannot be met in the created delivery plan. However, if deliveries are postponed to the next day or later, there is a risk that the deliveries will not arrive at the destination by the time required by the recipient.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and aims to provide a system that reduces the possibility of a delivery being delivered later than the scheduled delivery time. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention comprises a delivery request information acquisition unit that acquires delivery request information including the delivery destination, delivery volume, and delivery time of the delivery item, a delivery vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires delivery vehicle information including the number of delivery vehicles and the load capacity of the delivery vehicles, and a delivery plan generation unit that generates a delivery plan based on the delivery request information and the delivery vehicle information, wherein the delivery plan generation unit acquires a plurality of delivery plans for different delivery times, and when a delivery plan that cannot adhere to the delivery time is acquired, corrects the delivery item included in the delivery plan that cannot adhere to the delivery time so that it is delivered at an earlier time than the delivery plan.

[0007] That is, in the delivery support system, when a delivery plan that cannot keep to the delivery time is acquired, the delivery item included in the delivery plan that cannot keep to the delivery time is delivered earlier than the delivery plan (i.e., delivered according to the delivery plan that precedes the delivery plan), thereby reducing or avoiding the possibility of the delivery item being delivered later than the scheduled delivery time. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a delivery assistance system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of delivery request information. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of delivery vehicle information. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a delivery plan. [Diagram 5] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a delivery assistance process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Here, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order. (1) Configuration of delivery support system: (2) Delivery support processing: (3) Other embodiments:

[0010] (1) Configuration of delivery support system: FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a delivery support system 10 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the delivery support system 10 is, for example, a stationary general-purpose computer or a cloud-type external server, and is realized by a server operated from an administrator terminal 100. The administrator terminal 100 can be, for example, a general-purpose computer or a mobile terminal, and is equipped with a display and an operation input unit (not shown). For example, an administrator who manages the operation of delivery vehicles belonging to multiple bases or a specific base operates the operation input unit of the administrator terminal 100 to cause the delivery support system 10 to create a delivery plan. Note that this embodiment is assumed to provide delivery support when delivering goods to each store of a convenience store, for example.

[0011] In this embodiment, the delivery plan is a plan for one or more delivery vehicles departing from multiple bases or a predetermined base to visit multiple delivery destinations in a predetermined order and deliver packages at each delivery destination. In this embodiment, the delivery plan is created by defining the order in which each delivery vehicle arrives at multiple delivery destinations and the period during which loading and unloading is performed at each delivery destination. Specifically, the delivery support system 10 outputs the delivery items to be unloaded at each delivery destination (i.e., each store), the location of each delivery destination, the location of the delivery base (shipping point) of the target delivery vehicle, etc. to the VRP (Vehicle Routing Problem) server 200 to create a delivery plan. The delivery plan is created by defining the order in which each delivery vehicle arrives at multiple delivery destinations, the period (time) during which loading and unloading is performed at each delivery destination, and the delivery items to be unloaded. The VRP server 200 is a server that creates a delivery plan in which a vehicle departing from a delivery base delivers goods to each store using a known algorithm.

[0012] In this embodiment, the delivery support system 10, the manager terminal 100, and the VRP server 200 can communicate with each other via a network. Note that the manager terminal 100 only needs to be able to communicate with at least the delivery support system 10, and the communication method is not particularly limited. Similarly, the VRP server 200 only needs to be able to communicate with at least the delivery support system 10, and the communication method is not particularly limited.

[0013] The delivery support system 10 includes a control unit 20 including a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., a recording medium 30, and a communication unit 40. The control unit 20 executes various programs stored in the recording medium 30 or the ROM. The control unit 20 can execute a delivery support program 21 as an example of this program. The communication unit 40 is a device for wirelessly communicating with an external device, and the control unit 20 can communicate with the administrator terminal 100 and the VRP server 200 via the communication unit 40.

[0014] The recording medium 30 stores delivery request information 30a, delivery vehicle information 30b, and map information 30c. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the delivery request information 30a. The delivery request information 30a stores information input by the administrator at the administrator terminal 100, for example, and is defined for each delivery destination. Specifically, the administrator terminal 100 collects delivery requests from each delivery destination, and transmits the collected delivery requests to the delivery support system 10 at a predetermined time. In this embodiment, the administrator terminal 100 collects request information from each delivery destination, but each delivery destination may directly transmit a delivery request to the delivery support system 10. The delivery request information 30a shown here includes, for example, the delivery item (luggage), delivery destination, delivery amount, delivery time, temperature range of the delivery item (for example, chilled, normal temperature, frozen), and priority of the delivery item.

[0015] The delivery item is a package (or product) according to the temperature range of the delivery item. For example, if the temperature range of the delivery item is refrigerated products, it includes rice balls, bento lunches, side dishes, cooked bread, salads, dairy products, desserts, etc. If the temperature range of the delivery item is room temperature products, it includes drinking water, processed foods, instant noodles, sweets, miscellaneous goods such as stationery and detergent, etc. If the temperature range is frozen products, it includes ice cream, rock ice, frozen foods, fryers, etc. In the delivery request information 30a, the delivery item is specified by identification information for identifying the delivery item (in FIG. 2, it is written as product A, product B, etc.).

[0016] A delivery destination is a store to which a package is delivered, and exists in multiple locations. In the example shown in Fig. 2, store A and store B are exemplified as delivery destination stores. In the delivery request information 30a, the delivery item is specified by identification information for identifying the delivery destination (shown as store A, store B, etc. in Fig. 2).

[0017] The delivery amount is, for example, the number of transport containers called "banju" that are used in convenience stores and the like, and in the example shown in FIG. 2, the number of such banju is defined as a "unit."

[0018] The delivery time is the time when loading and unloading may be performed at the delivery destination for delivery, and includes a specified time (e.g., 6:00) and a specified time period (e.g., 6:00-7:00), and in the example shown in FIG. 2, the specified time period is defined as a "service." Also, typically, convenience stores and the like deliveries may be made multiple times a day, such as a morning service, a midday service, and a night service. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a first service and a second service are shown.

[0019] As described above, the temperature zones of deliveries are divided into chilled, room temperature, frozen, etc., and each is managed at a specified temperature. For example, chilled items are managed at around 5°C, room temperature items at around 20°C, and frozen items at around -20°C. The managed temperatures may be changed as appropriate depending on the characteristics of the product, etc.

[0020] The priority of a delivery is an index determined according to the necessity of adhering to a delivery time. Although it is desirable to deliver a delivery item to a delivery destination at a scheduled delivery time, there are cases where the delivery item cannot be loaded onto a delivery vehicle due to factors such as the vehicle's load capacity. In such cases, in this embodiment, the delivery time (service) is changed according to the priority of the delivery item. The priority of a delivery item is determined, for example, by the expiration date, and among products contained in the same chilled service, items with a relatively long expiration date have a low priority, while items with a relatively short expiration date have a high priority. Note that the priority of this delivery item is not limited to the expiration date, and may be set according to the expiration date or the period during which the item can be sold in a store.

[0021] The above-mentioned delivery request information 30a will be explained using product A, product B, and product E shown in FIG. 2. Product A, product B, and product E are each chilled products, and are delivered to store A and store B. Two units each of product A and product B are delivered to store A in the first delivery, and two units of product E are delivered to store B in the second delivery. Four units of product A and three units of product B are delivered to store B in the first delivery, and one unit of product E is delivered in the second delivery. The delivery priorities of product A, product B, and product E are, in that order, "high," "medium," and "low." In other words, even if they are the same chilled products, they have different delivery priorities.

[0022] Although not shown, other delivery request information 30a may include location information of the base where delivery starts, location information of the location where delivery ends, location information of the delivery destination, and the like.

[0023] 3 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of delivery vehicle information 30b. The delivery vehicle information 30b stores information input by an administrator at, for example, the administrator terminal 100. The delivery vehicle information 30b shown here includes, for example, the number of delivery vehicles, the load capacity of the delivery vehicles, the speed of the delivery vehicles, and the temperature range of the delivery vehicles.

[0024] In the example shown in FIG. 3, there are 10 delivery vehicles for chilled deliveries and 5 delivery vehicles for normal temperature deliveries departing from a specified delivery base during the same time period (flight). The loading capacity of these delivery vehicles is such that, for chilled deliveries, each vehicle can carry 100 units of box weights. For normal temperature deliveries, each vehicle can carry 50 units of box weights. The maximum speed of each delivery vehicle is 60 km / h. Although not shown, other delivery vehicle information 30b may include setting information on the driver's available delivery times, rest times, and driving routes such as the use of toll roads and general roads.

[0025] The map information 30c is information used for searching for a route, specifying the location of a delivery destination, etc., and includes node data indicating the positions of nodes set on the roads on which the vehicle travels, shape interpolation point data indicating the positions of shape interpolation points for specifying the shape of the roads between the nodes, link data indicating the connections between the nodes, feature data indicating the positions and attributes of features existing on the roads and their surroundings, etc. These features include facilities that can be delivery destinations.

[0026] The delivery request information 30a, the delivery vehicle information 30b, and the map information 30c may be recorded in the recording medium 30 at least at the stage of creating a delivery plan, as long as the information on the day for which the plan is to be created is recorded therein. Therefore, if a delivery plan is created for each day, the data for each day is recorded in the recording medium 30 at the time of creating the plan for each day. Alternatively, if a plan is created for multiple days, for example, for a week, the plan may be created with the information for the week recorded in the recording medium 30. Alternatively, even if a delivery plan is created for a unit shorter than a day, the plan may be created with the information for that unit recorded in the recording medium 30. In addition, in this embodiment, information on the delivery plan for a flight that is prior to the flight for which the plan is to be created and has not yet departed is recorded in the recording medium 30 (not shown).

[0027] The delivery support program 21 is a program for causing the computer of the delivery support system 10 to function as the delivery request information acquisition unit 21a, the delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b, and the delivery plan generation unit 21c. The processing of the delivery request information acquisition unit 21a, the delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b, and the delivery plan generation unit 21c is realized by the CPU executing the delivery support program 21. That is, in the following description, the processing described as being performed by the delivery request information acquisition unit 21a, the delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b, and the delivery plan generation unit 21c is processing executed by the control unit 20.

[0028] The delivery request information acquisition unit 21a acquires the delivery request information 30a via the communication unit 40. That is, the delivery request information acquisition unit 21a acquires the delivery request information 30a that becomes part of the information for creating the delivery plan to be created. Specifically, the delivery request information acquisition unit 21a acquires the delivery request information 30a described in FIG. 2. Then, the acquired delivery request information 30a is stored in the recording medium 30.

[0029] The delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b acquires delivery vehicle information 30b via the communication unit 40. That is, the delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b acquires the delivery vehicle information 30b that becomes part of the information for creating the delivery plan to be created. Specifically, the delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b acquires the delivery vehicle information 30b described in FIG. 3. The acquired delivery vehicle information 30b is then stored in the recording medium 30. The delivery request information 30a and the delivery vehicle information 30b are transmitted from, for example, the administrator terminal 100.

[0030] The delivery plan generating unit 21c creates a delivery plan based on the delivery request information 30a, the delivery vehicle information 30b, and the map information 30c so that the delivery vehicle can handle the cargo within a predetermined time period for each delivery destination. In other words, the delivery plan generating unit 21c creates a delivery plan so that the delivery vehicle that departs from the delivery base handles the cargo within the delivery time period for each delivery destination and each store.

[0031] Specifically, the delivery plan generating unit 21c creates a delivery plan for delivering products to each store based on the product volume requested by the delivery destination. In this embodiment, the delivery plan generating unit 21c acquires a delivery plan for each temperature zone and each flight, which is the delivery time of the delivery item. That is, the delivery plan generating unit 21c outputs the delivery destination, delivery volume, delivery time, and the location of the delivery base for each temperature zone and each flight to the VRP server 200, and causes the VRP server 200 to create a delivery plan. Note that the VRP can create a delivery plan for a vehicle departing from a delivery base to deliver products to each store using various known algorithms. In this embodiment, the delivery plan shown in FIG. 4, which will be described later, is generated by inputting the above-mentioned delivery request information 30a, delivery vehicle information 30b, and map information 30c.

[0032] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of delivery plan information showing a delivery plan created based on delivery request information 30a, delivery vehicle information 30b, and map information 30c. As can be seen from FIG. 4, a delivery destination, a load of delivery items, a temperature range of delivery items, arrival and departure times, and a driving route are created for each vehicle. For example, in the case of a vehicle with vehicle ID "001" (chilled delivery), the delivery destinations are store A, store B, and other stores not shown, and two units of chilled products A and B are delivered to store A. In addition, the vehicle with vehicle ID "001" arrives at store A at 4:00 and departs from store A at 4:30. In this case, the deliverer is scheduled to unload the delivery items within 30 minutes after arriving at store A at 4:00. In addition, the vehicle with vehicle ID "001" arrives at store B at 5:00 and departs from store B at 5:30. In this case, the deliverer is scheduled to arrive at store B at 5:00 and unload the delivery within 30 minutes. The travel route is defined by the sequence of nodes indicated by the map information 30c. For example, in the delivery plan information shown in FIG. 4, the route for the vehicle with vehicle ID "001" to travel from the base to store A is a route passing through the nodes N11 to N15. The route for the vehicle with vehicle ID "001" to travel from store A to store B is a route passing through the node data N21 to N25. Of course, the travel route may be defined in various ways, and may be defined by the sequence of links indicating the connections between nodes, or may be defined by the sequence of nodes and links. Note that the vehicle with vehicle ID "002" (room temperature delivery) is as shown in FIG. 4, and although the loading capacity, arrival and departure times, and travel route are different, the content of the delivery plan for vehicle ID "001" is the same, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0033] On the other hand, the delivery plan generated as described above may cause an error depending on the result of VRP. For example, when the total amount of deliveries (total amount of deliveries to each delivery destination) is relatively large compared to the maximum load capacity, which is the sum of the load capacities of multiple delivery vehicles, the delivery vehicles of a specific delivery service (e.g., the second service) may not be able to load all the deliveries, causing an error. Alternatively, the delivery vehicles of a specific delivery service (e.g., the second service carrying product E to store A) may not be able to load all the deliveries, causing an error. In this way, when the load capacity of the deliveries is large compared to the load capacity of the delivery vehicles, the delivery time of each store of the delivery destination may not be observed. Therefore, in the control unit 20 in this embodiment, a delivery plan is once created by the delivery plan generation unit 21c, and if an error occurs due to the result of VRP using the created delivery plan, the delivery plan is corrected.

[0034] Specifically, the control unit 20 creates a delivery plan by the delivery plan generation unit 21c. As described above, the control unit 20 creates a delivery plan for each temperature zone of the delivery items and for each trip based on the delivery request information 30a, the delivery vehicle information 30b, and the map information 30c. Next, the control unit 20 judges whether or not all the delivery items to be delivered can be delivered by the created delivery plan (in other words, the trip for which the plan is created). That is, the control unit 20 judges whether or not there are any delivery items that cannot be loaded onto the delivery vehicle and overflow for each delivery trip. This is realized, for example, by an error occurring when the load capacity of the delivery items (i.e., the delivery volume) is larger than the load capacity of the delivery vehicle as a result of the VRP, in which case the control unit 20 judges that at least some of the delivery items cannot be delivered by the created delivery plan. In other words, the control unit 20 judges that all the delivery items to be delivered cannot be delivered. Conversely, if no error occurs as a result of the VRP, the control unit 20 judges that all the delivery items to be delivered can be delivered by the created delivery plan.

[0035] Next, when the control unit 20 determines that at least some of the pieces to be delivered according to the created delivery plan cannot be delivered due to an error occurring in the VRP result, the control unit 20 calculates the delivery volume of the pieces that cannot be delivered. The delivery volume of the pieces that cannot be delivered can be obtained, for example, from the VRP result.

[0036] Then, based on the result of the VRP, the control unit 20 extracts or identifies from the delivery vehicle of the flight for which the plan is to be created, deliveries to be sent to a flight (for example, the first flight) that is earlier than the flight for which the plan is to be created (for example, the second flight) and has not yet departed. If the deliveries overflow from the delivery vehicle, the deliveries will be sent to another delivery flight. For example, in the delivery plan described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, deliveries that cannot be loaded are configured to be sent to a delivery flight on the next day or later. However, if the deliveries are sent to a delivery flight on the next day, the deliveries will be delivered later than the scheduled delivery time. Therefore, in this embodiment, the control unit 20 is configured to send deliveries that cannot be loaded onto the flight for which the plan is to be created (hereinafter also referred to as the delivery flight) to a delivery flight that is earlier than the delivery flight and has not yet departed. This reduces or avoids the possibility that the deliveries will be delivered later than the scheduled delivery time. Note that complying with the delivery time in this embodiment means that at least the deliveries can be made earlier than the scheduled delivery time, and therefore does not need to be exactly the same as the scheduled delivery time.

[0037] Here, the priority of the delivery items when extracting the delivery items to be sent to the previous delivery will be described. As described above, the priority of the delivery items is an index determined according to the need to comply with the delivery time, and is determined based on the expiration date, the expiration date, the period during which the delivery items can be sold, and the like. For example, when the delivery is a chilled delivery, the chilled delivery items are assumed to be rice balls, bento boxes, side dishes, cooked bread, salads, dairy products, desserts, and the like. Among these chilled items, rice balls, bento boxes, salads, cooked bread, and the like have particularly short expiration dates. In contrast, dairy products have relatively long expiration dates compared to other products such as rice balls. Therefore, dairy products have a low priority as a delivery item to be delivered by the delivery service. In this embodiment, the delivery items to be sent to the delivery plan of the previous delivery are extracted from such items with low priority. This makes it possible to maintain the freshness of each product to be delivered.

[0038] In addition to having a short expiration date, rice balls and bento lunches are products that should be delivered at fixed times such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and therefore delivery times should be adhered to. In other words, there are demands for rice balls and bento lunches to be freshly made and to be prevented from drying out. Therefore, it is preferable for such products to be delivered by the delivery service, and the delivery items have a high priority.

[0039] Although we will not go into detail about deliveries that are room temperature or frozen, the priority is determined based on the expiration date (best before date or sellable period) in the same way as for refrigerated deliveries, and the deliveries to be moved to the next shipment are selected.

[0040] Next, the control unit 20 recreates the delivery plan. That is, the control unit 20 modifies the delivery plan by adding the delivery items that cannot be loaded on the delivery flight to the cargo of the delivery plan of the previous flight that was created. In other words, the control unit 20 performs a reduction correction to reduce the delivery items in the delivery plan that cannot be delivered by the delivery flight, and performs an increase correction to increase the delivery items by incorporating the reduced delivery items into the delivery plan of the previous flight. This reduction correction and increase correction are performed by modifying the delivery plan that was created without executing the VRP again. That is, the control unit 20 performs an increase correction of the delivery items in the delivery plan of the previous flight that was created, and performs a reduction correction of the delivery items in the delivery plan of the delivery flight that was created.

[0041] Next, the control unit 20 judges whether or not all of the deliveries to be delivered can be delivered in the re-created delivery plan of the previous flight. If the control unit 20 judges that all of the deliveries can be delivered in the re-created delivery plan of the previous flight, the control unit 20 executes the re-created delivery plan. On the other hand, even if an increase correction is made to add deliveries to the delivery plan of the previous flight, there are cases where all of the deliveries that cannot be loaded on the delivery flight (i.e., the delivery plan of the original flight) cannot be delivered on the previous flight. In other words, if there are more deliveries that cannot be loaded than the free space in the loading compartment of the delivery vehicle of the previous flight, even if the deliveries are diverted to the previous flight, all of the deliveries cannot be loaded on the delivery vehicle. In other words, the delivery vehicle cannot deliver all of the deliveries on the delivery flight and the previous flight. Therefore, if there are deliveries that cannot be loaded even after adding the deliveries that cannot be loaded to the delivery plan of the previous flight, the control unit 20 proposes to increase the number of delivery vehicles on the delivery flight that is the flight for which the plan is to be created. This reduces or avoids the possibility of deliveries being delivered later than the scheduled delivery time.

[0042] In addition, even if there is no free space in the loading platform of the delivery service prior to the delivery service and the delivery volume cannot be increased, the system will propose to increase the number of delivery vehicles on the delivery service. This reduces or prevents the possibility of the delivery being made later than the scheduled delivery time.

[0043] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. As described above, in this embodiment, the control unit 20 judges whether or not all of the deliveries to be delivered can be delivered by the delivery service that is the service for which the plan is to be created. If all of the deliveries cannot be delivered by the delivery service, the delivery time scheduled by the delivery destination may not be met. Therefore, if some of the deliveries cannot be loaded onto the delivery vehicle and all of the deliveries cannot be delivered, the delivery support system 10 is configured to prioritize deliveries of deliveries, for example, with a relatively long expiration date, and to send them to an earlier delivery service that has not yet departed. Therefore, the delivery support system 10 of this embodiment can reduce or avoid delivery times that are later than the delivery destination's scheduled delivery time, and as a result, the delivery destination's scheduled delivery time can be met.

[0044] Furthermore, when some of the deliveries cannot be loaded onto a delivery vehicle and all of the deliveries cannot be delivered, the control unit 20 performs a reduction correction to reduce the number of deliveries in the delivery plan (delivery plan for the flight for which the plan is being created) and performs an increase correction to add the revised deliveries to a delivery plan for a flight prior to the delivery plan that has not yet departed. The increase correction adds (i.e. incorporates) the delivery deliveries that have been reduced in the delivery plan to the delivery plan already planned for the previous flight. In other words, the control unit 20 does not re-create the delivery plan by performing VRP again, but adds packages to delivery vehicles with vacant cargo space in the created delivery plan. Therefore, the control unit 20 does not need to perform high-load processing such as re-executing VRP when revising the delivery plan, and in other words, delivery support can be performed by the simple control described above.

[0045] In addition, as described above, in this embodiment, when some of the delivery items cannot be loaded into the delivery vehicle and all of the delivery items cannot be delivered, items with relatively long expiration dates are sent to the previous delivery. For example, when the delivery vehicle is a chilled delivery vehicle, among multiple chilled products, items with relatively long expiration dates are sent to the previous delivery. In other words, items with relatively short expiration dates are delivered by that delivery vehicle. Items with short expiration dates are items that require relatively fresh food, or items that require "freshly made," "freshly picked," "freshness," etc. Therefore, items with short expiration dates can meet the requirements for freshness, etc. by being delivered by that delivery vehicle. In other words, in this embodiment, even if some of the delivery items cannot be loaded into the delivery vehicle and all of the delivery items cannot be delivered, the requirements for freshness, etc. can be met while adhering to the delivery time scheduled by the delivery destination.

[0046] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the delivery is completed at or before the scheduled delivery time of the delivery destination, so the delivery destination store does not receive the delivery after the scheduled delivery time. Therefore, for example, if the delivery is delivered to the delivery destination store later than the scheduled delivery time, it may cause discomfort to the store or damage the product value, but in this embodiment, such an event does not occur, so it is possible to deliver the delivery without causing discomfort to the store or damaging the product value.

[0047] (2) Delivery support processing: Next, the delivery support process executed by the control unit 20 will be described. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the delivery support process executed by the control unit 20. In this embodiment, the delivery support process is started when the control unit 20 of the delivery support system 10 acquires a start instruction from the manager terminal 100 via the communication unit 40.

[0048] When the delivery support process is started, first, the control unit 20 creates a delivery plan (step S1). That is, the control unit 20 creates a delivery plan based on the above-mentioned delivery request information 30a, delivery vehicle information 30b, and map information 30c by the function of the delivery plan generation unit 21c. Specifically, the control unit 20 extracts information on the delivery item to be delivered by the delivery service from the delivery request information 30a, and outputs the delivery vehicle information 30b and the map information 30c together to the VRP server 200. Note that, as a prerequisite for executing this step S1, it is a prerequisite that at least one delivery plan for the previous service has been created and that the previous service has not yet departed.

[0049] Next, the control unit 20 judges whether or not all of the deliveries to be delivered can be delivered (step S2). This is a step for judging whether or not all of the deliveries to be delivered can be delivered by the delivery service. If the judgment in step S2 is affirmative, the control unit 20 does not execute any further control and once ends the routine shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5.

[0050] On the other hand, when the control unit 20 determines negatively in step S2, that is, when some of the deliveries cannot be loaded onto the delivery vehicle and all of the deliveries cannot be delivered, it calculates the amount of deliveries that cannot be delivered (step S3). For example, when it is determined in step S2 that all of the deliveries cannot be delivered, the control unit 20 can obtain information such as the amount of deliveries that overflow from the delivery vehicle from the result of the VRP, and calculates the amount of deliveries that cannot be delivered from the information. More specifically, even if some of the deliveries that should be delivered cannot be delivered, when the VRP is executed, a delivery plan is created to deliver as many of the deliveries that have been requested for delivery as possible, and an error occurs in a state where the deliveries that cannot be loaded are left behind. Therefore, the overflowing deliveries are in a state where a delivery vehicle to load them has not been specified, but the other deliveries are in a state where a delivery vehicle to load them has been specified. Based on the result of the VRP as described above, the control unit 20 calculates the amount of deliveries (the number of units in the above example) for which a delivery vehicle to load them has not been specified in step S3.

[0051] Next, the control unit 20 extracts the delivery item to be sent to the previous delivery (step S4). That is, the control unit 20 extracts (or identifies) a delivery that has not yet departed and is to be sent to a delivery that precedes the delivery item. Here, the delivery item to be sent to the previous delivery is determined according to the need to comply with the delivery time defined by, for example, the expiration date or the period during which the delivery item can be sold. That is, when the delivery item is a chilled delivery, among the multiple chilled products, the delivery item with the lower priority (the delivery item with the longer expiration date) is preferentially sent to the previous delivery. More specifically, the control unit 20 refers to the delivery request information 30a and identifies the priority of the delivery item (overflow delivery item) for which a delivery vehicle to load has not been specified. If the priority of the delivery item is low, the control unit 20 determines that the delivery item is to be sent to the previous delivery. If the priority of the delivery item for which a delivery vehicle to load has not been specified is high, there is a high possibility that a delivery vehicle to load a delivery item with a lower priority than the delivery item has been specified. Therefore, the control unit 20 refers to the delivery request information 30a, and extracts deliveries one by one, starting with those with a low associated priority, and repeats the extraction process until the delivery volume of the extracted deliveries becomes equal to the delivery volume (number of units) calculated in step S3. This allows deliveries with a low priority to be prioritized as deliveries to be sent to the next delivery. When there are multiple deliveries with the same priority, the extraction order may be determined according to a predetermined rule. For example, a rule may be adopted in which deliveries that are delivered to the same store as an already extracted deliveries are preferentially extracted.

[0052] Next, the control unit 20 recreates the delivery plan (step S5). Specifically, the control unit 20 performs a reduction correction to reduce the number of deliveries that cannot be loaded on the delivery flight, and an increase correction to add the delivery items with the reduction correction to the cargo of the delivery plan of the previous flight that was created once. The reduction correction is a correction to delete the delivery items extracted in step S4 from the delivery targets in the delivery plan created in step S1. Specifically, if the delivery items to be sent to the previous flight extracted in step S4 are delivery items for which a delivery vehicle to be loaded has not been specified, the control unit 20 deletes the delivery items from the delivery targets in the delivery plan created in step S1. If the delivery items to be sent to the previous flight extracted in step S4 are delivery items for which a delivery vehicle to be loaded has been specified, the control unit 20 deletes the delivery items from the delivery targets to be delivered by the delivery vehicle. Furthermore, the control unit 20 associates the overflowing delivery items with high priority with the delivery vehicle from which the delivery items have been deleted, and corrects the delivery plan so that the delivery items become the delivery targets of the delivery vehicle. The increase correction is a correction in which the delivery items extracted in step S4 are added to the luggage of the previous delivery vehicle that has free space in the loading platform.

[0053] Then, the control unit 20 judges whether all the deliveries to be delivered in the revised delivery plan of the previous delivery can be delivered (step S6). That is, the control unit 20 judges whether the amount of deliveries overflowing from the previous delivery can be loaded. Specifically, in the decrease and increase correction of step S5, the control unit 20 judges that all the deliveries extracted in step S4 can be delivered if they can be made into parcels of the delivery vehicle of the delivery service or the previous delivery. If the judgment in step S6 is affirmative, that is, if it is judged that all the deliveries to be delivered in the delivery plan of the previous delivery can be delivered, the control unit 20 executes the delivery plan re-created in step S5 (step S7). That is, the control unit 20 executes the above-mentioned decrease correction of the deliveries of the delivery service and the increase correction of the deliveries of the previous delivery.

[0054] On the other hand, if the above-mentioned step S6 is negative, that is, if it is determined that all of the deliveries to be delivered in the delivery plan of the previous delivery cannot be delivered, the control unit 20 proposes to increase the number of vehicles on that delivery service (step S8). Specifically, the control unit 20 transmits information to the manager terminal 100 via the communication unit 40, urging the manager terminal 100 to increase the number of vehicles. The manager terminal 100 displays the information on an interface (not shown). That is, even if the deliveries that cannot be loaded on the delivery service are diverted to the previous delivery, the delivery support system 10 proposes to the manager of the manager terminal 100 to increase the number of delivery vehicles on that delivery service, since it is not possible to load all of the deliveries.

[0055] (3) Other embodiments: The above embodiment is an example for implementing the present invention, and various other embodiments can be adopted. For example, the delivery support system 10 and the VRP server 200 may be configured in the same device. Alternatively, the delivery support system 10 and the administrator terminal 100 may be configured in the same device. Alternatively, the administrator terminal 100 and the VRP server 200 may be configured in the same device. Alternatively, the delivery support system 10, the administrator terminal 100, and the VRP server 200 may be configured in the same device. In addition, the delivery support system 10 may be configured in multiple systems. For example, some of the functions of the delivery support system 10 may be realized in the administrator terminal 100, or may be realized in a cloud server.

[0056] The user of the manager terminal 100 may be located at a logistics base or at the order origin. The manager terminal 100 may be provided in a delivery vehicle or may be a portable terminal. At least some of the components constituting the delivery support system 10 (delivery request information acquisition unit 21a, delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b, delivery plan generation unit 21c) may be separated into multiple devices. Configurations in which some of the components of the above-mentioned embodiment are omitted, configurations in which the processing is changed, or configurations in which processing is omitted may also be envisioned.

[0057] In addition, while the above-described embodiment has been described assuming delivery support when delivering goods to each convenience store, this is not limited to convenience stores and may be applied to various delivery support systems that deliver parcels to supermarkets, commercial facilities, factories, etc.

[0058] The delivery request information acquisition unit 21a only needs to acquire delivery request information 30a including the delivery destination, delivery volume, and delivery time of the delivery item. The delivery destination, delivery volume, and delivery time of the delivery item only need to be parameters for creating a delivery plan, and other information may be included in the parameters. Although the delivery volume is described in the delivery request information 30a of FIG. 2 as being expressed in units of "units," "kilos" or "tons" may also be used. Although the delivery request information 30a shown in FIG. 2 indicates that the temperature zones of the delivery items are chilled and room temperature, other temperature zones such as frozen may also be included.

[0059] The delivery time may be any information for specifying a deadline for delivering the delivery item, and when a delivery is scheduled to be made within a specific time period in a specific delivery service as in the above embodiment, the delivery service associated with the delivery item may be considered as the delivery time associated with the delivery item. In this way, the delivery time may be indirectly specified, or may be specified in various other ways. Of course, the delivery time may be directly specified by a time period, or may be specified by the length of time from a reference time (e.g., the order confirmation time, etc.).

[0060] Similarly, the delivery vehicle information acquisition unit 21b may acquire delivery vehicle information 30b including the number of delivery vehicles and the load capacity of the delivery vehicles. The number of delivery vehicles and the load capacity of the delivery vehicles may be parameters for creating a delivery plan, and other information may be included in the parameters. The number of delivery vehicles and the load capacity of the delivery vehicles may be information for specifying the amount of deliveries that can be delivered in one delivery plan, and if the load capacity differs for each delivery vehicle, the load capacity is defined for each delivery vehicle. Although the delivery vehicle information 30b in FIG. 3 is described using "units" as the unit of load capacity of the delivery vehicle, "kilos" or "tons" may be used. Although the delivery vehicle information 30b shown in FIG. 3 is described using chilled and room temperature as examples of temperature zones, other temperature zones such as frozen may be included. Furthermore, the delivery vehicle information may be in a form in which temperature management is not performed.

[0061] When a delivery plan that cannot keep the delivery time is acquired, the delivery plan generating unit 21c may add the deliveries included in the delivery plan that cannot keep the delivery time to the delivery plan of the previous flight that has not yet departed. Therefore, in the embodiment described in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 above, as an example of a case where the delivery time cannot be kept, an error in the VRP result due to a part of the deliveries not being loaded into the delivery vehicle is shown, but this is not limited to this. For example, the delivery plan may be modified by the delivery plan generating unit 21c when it becomes necessary to modify a delivery plan that has already been created. Since requests for deliveries from delivery destinations change daily, for example, on a hot summer day, requests for drinking water, ice cream, rock ice, etc. may increase on the day of delivery or immediately before delivery compared to the initial schedule. In such a case, the delivery volume of the delivery service increases, and there is a risk that the delivery service cannot deliver all the deliveries. Therefore, the delivery plan generating unit 21c (i.e., the control unit 20) executes the control described in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, that is, transfers some of the deliveries to the delivery plan of the previous flight that has not yet departed. This makes it possible to avoid the possibility of the delivery being delayed from the scheduled delivery time, i.e., to ensure that the delivery time is met.

[0062] Furthermore, a state where the delivery time cannot be met is, for example, a state where a mandatory target set for a deadline cannot be achieved. For example, if the delivery time is allowed to be exceeded by a preset time length (for example, 10 minutes), the delivery time can be considered to be met if the delivery is completed before the preset time length has elapsed in addition to the delivery time. Also, for example, consider a case where a sales period is set for a delivery item, and the mandatory target is to complete the delivery at a time a preset period before the end of the sales period. In this case, the sales period can be considered to indirectly specify the delivery time. It is also possible to consider that the delivery time cannot be met unless the delivery is completed at or before the time a preset period before the end of the sales period.

[0063] In addition, in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 5, a delivery vehicle corresponding to each product (chilled product, room temperature product, frozen product) is used. However, if temperature control corresponding to each product can be performed in the luggage compartment (cargo bed) of the delivery vehicle, products of multiple temperature ranges may be loaded in one vehicle. For example, multiple types of products, including chilled products and room temperature products, are temperature-controlled in the luggage compartment of one vehicle using a two-layer structure or the like. If the delivery time cannot be met, the delivery plan may be modified so that room temperature products that do not affect quality even if the temperature is lowered are delivered in the chilled temperature range.

[0064] Furthermore, the present invention can be applied as a program or a method. The above-mentioned system, program, and method may be realized as a single device, or may be realized by using parts shared with each part provided in the vehicle, and include various aspects. For example, it is possible to provide a method or program realized by the above-mentioned system. In addition, it is possible to change it as appropriate, such as partly being software and partly being hardware. Furthermore, the invention can be established as a recording medium of a program that controls the device. Of course, the recording medium of the software may be a magnetic recording medium or a semiconductor memory, and any recording medium developed in the future can be considered in the same way. [Explanation of symbols]

[0065] 10...Delivery support system, 20...Control unit, 21...Delivery support program, 21a...Delivery request information acquisition unit, 21b...Delivery vehicle information acquisition unit, 21c...Delivery plan generation unit, 30...Recording medium, 30a...Delivery request information, 30b...Delivery vehicle information, 30c...Map information, 40...Communication unit, 100...Administrator terminal, 200...VRP server.

Claims

1. a delivery request information acquisition unit that acquires delivery request information including a delivery destination, a delivery amount, and a delivery time of a delivery item; A delivery vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires delivery vehicle information including the number of delivery vehicles and the load capacity of the delivery vehicles; a delivery plan generating unit that generates a delivery plan based on the delivery request information and the delivery vehicle information, the delivery plan generation unit acquires a plurality of delivery plans for different delivery times, and when a delivery plan that cannot comply with the delivery time is acquired, corrects the delivery plan that cannot comply with the delivery time so that the delivery item included in the delivery plan is delivered at an earlier time than the delivery plan. Delivery support system.

2. The modification of the delivery plan is a decrease modification for reducing the number of deliveries of the delivery plan that cannot comply with the delivery time, and an increase modification for delivering the reduced number of deliveries by the delivery plan whose delivery time is earlier than that of the delivery plan. The delivery assistance system according to claim 1 .

3. The increase correction is a correction to add the delivery items of the delivery plan that cannot comply with the delivery time to the cargo of the delivery vehicle that will make delivery under the delivery plan whose delivery time is earlier than that of the delivery plan. The delivery assistance system according to claim 2.

4. the delivery request information includes information indicating a priority according to the need to comply with the delivery time, The delivery plan generation unit determines the delivery pieces to be modified based on the priority. The delivery assistance system according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The delivery item to be modified is the delivery item having a relatively low priority. The delivery assistance system according to claim 4.

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