PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS OF MILK RUN SYSTEMS
Suppose that vehicle pick-up or delivery routings occur with some regularity
and are not randomly distributed. This is, for instance, the case for suppliers
of large companies, which are integrated into a synchronized sourcing/
delivery scheme with regular JIT/JIS cycles to minimize inventory holding
for the production process. It is also the case for suppliers of retail or
supermarket chains, which usually have to deliver small or medium-sized
loads on a regular schedule. In such cases the roundtrips can be organized in
form of Milk Runs, that is on a fixed schedule using optimal regional tours
and adjusted vehicle sizes/equipment.
Milk-Run is in particular considered in the following cases: