Application of the Just-In-Time Concept in Urban Freight Transport

Just-In-Time (JIT) is a cost-effective philosophy, that was first implemented by Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation. Once successfully implemented, the JIT concept has been widely applied by numerous firms in several areas of specialization. This paper demonstrates how the JIT concept can be implemented in urban freight transport. A franchise of convenience stores and its distribution and routing system is selected for implementation. Focusing on routing perspective, the JIT concept is more efficiently incorporated by extending time window constraints at franchising convenience stores and the underlying routing system can be characterized as the vehicle routing problem with soft time windows and simultaneous pickups and deliveries (VRPSTWSPD). Experimental results prove that the VRPSTWSPD is of particular characteristics, which can fully satisfy objectives of the JIT concept. Use of the VRPSTWSPD would lead to a reduction of cost and waste-in-processes as well as maintaining an acceptable level of satisfaction.