Techathon 2

Challenge 2: Can you reduce carbon footprint of logistics?

Description

Logistics services is the backbone to Indian industry and a major contributor to the economy. Logistics and transportation companies involved in the movement, storage and flow of goods have been directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Offering complex multi-locational solutions across the globe, this sector has had to rapidly adapt to meet essential changes in customer behavior. Transportation is a major contributor to global climate change, accounting for 23% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. This becomes more significant when business operations are spread across multiple modes, geographies and product lines. As a result, transportation alone consumes more energy with large gas emissions, significantly increasing global warming.

Expected output

A logistics route planning and visibility solution that enables the following: 

1. Optimize the route of vehicles from a single source to multiple destinations, thereby minimizing total transportation costs
2. Produce savings by determining the lowest-cost carrier and route for every shipment, across every mode, all over the globe
3. Save on fuel through efficient carrier planning using the shortest routes and cheaper modes of transport
4. The solution can build visibility on the expected time of arrival (ETA) with a track-n-trace capability for vehicle tracking 

A minimum viable proposition that can provide a holistic logistics route planning and visibility solution with suggestions on availability of the carriers, optimized routes, low-carbon fuel consumption carriers and flexible fulfillment options, among others. This should enhance logistics services to deliver required shipments on schedule, providing visibility and transparency throughout the delivery process. 

Focus point examples:

• Parameters to consider should include low carbon emitting vehicles and recommend routes with lower transportation cost
• Predict the ETA including the impact of seasonality on the transportation
• Analytics with visuals, dashboards and maps to track and trace vehicles

Technology and standards

• AI/ML models
• Open source solvers/ Student edition (Gusec, Lindo, Cplex, Gurobi, Excel)
• UI (any open source)
• Analytics through Python/ R (open source)

Judging criteria

A scoring model basis:

• Completeness of the concept
• Design quality
• Number of outputs available in the prototype
• Quality of the build
• Scalability
• Value added output in the concept