Optimal size and location planning of public logistics terminals

The concept of public logistics terminals (multi-company distribution centers) has been proposed in Japan to help alleviate traffic congestion, environment, energy and labor costs. These facilities allow more efficient logistics systems to be established and they facilitate the implementation of advanced information systems and cooperative freight systems. This paper describes a mathematical model developed for determining the optimal size and location of public logistics terminals. Queuing theory and nonlinear programming techniques are used to determine the best solution. The model explicitly takes into account traffic conditions in the network and was successfully applied to an actual road network in the Kyoto-Osaka area in Japan. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.