Simulating less‐than‐truckload terminal operations

Purpose – Recent surveys indicate that transportation companies are not utilizing technology in decision making despite growing complexity of transportation systems. This paper aims to present a discrete simulation approach to benchmarking performance measures of terminal operations of less‐than‐truckload (LTL) freight carriers. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology involves design of heuristics for the dock assignment problem and uses discrete event simulation to evaluate performance of the various heuristics. Findings – Intelligent dock assignment for incoming trailers can greatly improve performance of LTL terminals and simulation is an effective tool to determine the effects of various assignments on terminal performance. Originality/value – The paper introduces a dock assignment heuristic and integrates the tactical level decision‐making process and operational aspects in LTL terminals to evaluate the performance of the system. A case study is used to demonstrate the use of the heuristic and performance improvements.