Early Rest as a Hours of Service Rule

In 24C, the enhancement to provide early rest for drivers was implemented as a property (glog.optimization.scheduling.considerEarlyRest).  The property, when set applies globally.   In 25A, the decision was made to add an attribute to the HOS Rule so that individual carriers could observe the rule.  The HOS rule works for Shipments and Work Assignment.

The business use case is intended for shipments with Long Stem drives so that the driver will take rest prior to performing work in a distant location.   Often, the driver is expected to leave a warehouse and make deliveries in a distant location before making a pickup in the same area and returning home.  This is a classical MSMS (Multi-segment; multi-stop) or a classical Work Assignment String of 2 shipments.  The Hours of Service rule is part of Service Time and works for either Multi-stop or Work Assignment.

Multi-stop Shipment Gantt Chart

The configuration now includes a flag on the HOS Rule to CONSIDER EARLY REST.

Early Rest Hours of Service Rule

This example is for 4 outbound deliveries and an inbound pickup.  There is no requirement that the outbound be multi-stop as it can be only one full truck delivery. This scenario was selected for the example.  The term MSMS implies that once a truck has been emptied, the next work creates a new segment.  That implies that the round trip with 2 shipments is indeed multi-segment.

Orders for the Early Rest Test Case

This is the shipment with the Long Stem.

Long Stem Shipment

The current logic shows the REST time as Wait time at the next stop. This is very important point.

Early Rest Stop Times

Early Rest Shipment and Stops

Shippers seek to minimize wasted transportation and a back haul is usually what is needed to assure reasonable unit costs for the delivery of merchandise for sale. A back haul is typically expected and not an exception, so this scenario is very common.  The typical scenario for a long stem move is for the driver to perform a delivery and a pickup at the distant location during the business work day.  To do this, the driver typically must start out early so that rest can be taken before work when the work has order windows that require the work to be completed in one day.  It is not acceptable to drive a long time, make one delivery and then take 10 hours rest when the hour of service requires.  The enhancement allows the rest to be taken before the work as per the business requirement.

Steps to Enable

The Hours of Service Rule must have the new flag configured for the Rate Offerings that support Early Rest.   The property remains in the OFF state as the client may opt to enable this globally and then they would not need to configure the individual rules.

Tips And Considerations

Users who have the glog.optimization.scheduling.considerEarlyRest set to true should consider setting the new flag on the relevant HOS Rules, and then setting the property to false.

Setup of the Order Time Windows and the Calendars are key to achieving the desired results.  Order Time Windows and Location calendars MUST be compatible.  Also, a key driver of the functionality is the configuration of the Early Delivery Time.   The attached Screen Shot shows 2 examples.  The top 5 orders for the top example do NOT produce the desired results but the bottom one does. Notice the difference.  The rest time will not be taken in the proper spot.  This enhancement requires careful thought about order time windows and location calendars.

Early Rest Order Time Windows