The e-commerce boom raises new challenges as retailers and couriers innovate their supply chains to keep up with demand. Last-mile delivery, the segment which starts at the last distribution centre and ends at the customer's doorstep, is particularly affected: couriers now handle many small parcels instead of fewer, larger shipments; they deliver during tight time windows when customers are at home; they deal in real-time with newly incoming orders while their fleet is already busy shipping other parcels. The volume growth in deliveries has also raised concerns, especially in dense urban environments where the externalities (traffic, emissions, noise, congestion) have become noticeable.

Some major challenges of Operations Research for sustainable last-mile delivery involve the optimization of dynamic routing and scheduling to minimize fuel consumption and emissions, managing vehicle fleets efficiently to balance environmental impact and service quality, integrating sustainability metrics into decision-making processes while addressing urban infrastructure constraints and integrating public transport (buses, trams or subway) within last-mile delivery systems.

Join us for an in-depth workshop to discover these and other challenges on Operations Research for Sustainable Last-mile Delivery.