Order Remnant Routing

Routing an order entirely along one route can sometimes be expensive. Though network routing logic does not generally split an order along different routes, the order remnant routing feature can be used in certain planning scenarios to split orders along different routes to save cost.

For example, in the following figure, when orders can go to the port location either directly or via a consolidation pool, it is usually cost-effective to send full containers directly to the port and route the order remnants (i.e., order portions not enough to make a full container) through the consolidation pool.

Note: In such split-routing of the orders (which OTM terms as order remnant routing), the expectation is that the full-container portions of a bundle of same-OD-pair orders will route by itself and the remnant portions will get consolidated with other small orders as well as other order remnants.

For planning scenarios, the order remnant routing can be turned on by setting the network routing logic parameter PERFORM ORDER REMNANT ROUTING to true.

When order remnant routing is on, prior to routing of orders, OTM determines the largest equipment common to all possible order routes (here only the equipment on the first primary leg on every order route is considered). While finding the largest equipment, it is assumed that all possible routes have the same largest equipment.

Once the largest equipment is determined, bundles of same-OD-pair orders are packed into full container and remnant portions by calling the container optimization logic. For example, a bundle of four same-OD-pair orders can be packed into three full containers and one partial container, as shown in the following figure.

The value of the logic parameter DESIRED EQUIPMENT UTILIZATION PERCENTAGE specifies the desired minimum equipment utilization for full containers in order remnant routing. If the equipment utilization is equal or more than this value in at least one metric (for example, weight, volume, or ERU), the packed equipment is considered as fully utilized.

The network routing logic enforces the orders (some of which could be split) in the fully utilized containers to route together on one route. The orders and order remnants in under-utilized equipment are allowed to route freely, and therefore they can get consolidated with other orders as well as remnants.