OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS
Let your routes respect capacity and delivery times.
Evaluate vehicle load limits and customer delivery time windows together. Focus on plans that are feasible under your own rules, not just on short routes.
CHALLENGES
Why can a short-looking route be infeasible?
- 1
Exceeding vehicle capacity
Whether a delivery split works depends on the vehicles’ real load limits.
- 2
Missing time windows
Even a route that looks short may not meet customers’ receiving hours.
- 3
Wrong service time assumptions
Besides travel time, the time needed for the work at the customer’s location also affects the plan.
HOW TRACKINIA HELPS
How does Trackinia account for these rules?
Vehicle capacity
Weight, volume and count capacities are taken into account, and vehicles with different capacities can be planned together.
Delivery time windows
You define the customer’s receiving range. A window can be strict, or flexible with a penalty for deviation.
Service durations
The time spent at each customer location is defined and added to the route schedule.
Working hours and breaks
Drivers’ working hours and break rules limit the calculated schedule.
Reviewing the calculated schedule
You see each stop’s planned arrival time on the timeline and compare it with the windows.
IN DETAIL
How capacity and time-window constraints work
In capacitated routing (CVRP), the load on a route cannot exceed the vehicle’s capacity. Load is not a single number: weight, volume and count are separate dimensions, each compared with its own capacity. One dimension being full does not mean the others are.
In time-window routing (VRPTW), a stop must be reached within its window. A vehicle arriving early waits, and the wait is added to the route duration. With a hard window a late arrival makes the plan invalid; with a soft window the deviation appears as a penalty in cost. This difference explains the gap between the shortest route and a feasible one.
Mathematical optimizationHow does this work in Trackinia?
- 1
Capacity dimensions
Weight, volume and count are built in. For countable measures such as pallets, custom integer dimensions can be defined; they match by name.
- 2
Planned utilization
The greatest load carried anywhere along a route is divided by the capacity of the same dimension. Each dimension has its own ratio; the peaks need not occur at the same stop.
- 3
Time windows
A task can have up to 16 intervals; each can be hard or soft.
- 4
Service duration
The standard service duration at a location is added to the route timing as time spent at the stop.
- 5
Planned timeline
Travel, service, waiting, breaks and daily rest are shown separately in the planned timeline. It is the intended timing and does not show what happened in the field.
Scope and limits
- In-vehicle layout and 3D loading are not planned; capacity is expressed through dimensions.
- Soft capacity is not supported; capacity is a hard limit.
- Planned arrival times are not updated automatically from times realized in the field.
EXAMPLE SCENARIO
Why the shorter-looking order was not chosen
One of two customers receives deliveries in the morning, the other in the afternoon. The visit order that looks shorter on the map reaches the second customer after its window has closed.
Illustrative example: this scenario shows how the product can be used. It is not a customer case or a measured result.
- 1
Both customers’ receiving ranges and service durations are defined.
- 2
A sequence that only looks at distance reaches the second stop after its window has closed.
- 3
The calculation that respects time windows picks a slightly longer order that fits both windows.
- 4
The planned arrival times are checked on the timeline.
Frequently asked questions
What is a capacity constraint in route optimization?
It reflects the total load a vehicle can carry in the plan. Trackinia takes weight, volume and count capacities into account.
How does a delivery time window work?
The range in which the customer accepts the delivery is defined for each task. The calculation compares the arrival time with that range to decide the sequence.
Why is the shortest route not always suitable?
The shortest path can exceed capacity or miss customers’ receiving hours. A route that cannot be carried out is useless in the field, however short it is.
Can a task have more than one time interval?
Yes. Up to 16 time intervals can be defined for a task. Each interval can be hard or soft.
What happens if a vehicle arrives before the window opens?
The vehicle waits for the window to open. The wait appears in the planned timeline and counts toward the route duration.