Optimization objective: Minimize shipping cost

Minimizing shipping cost is one of the fulfillment objectives of Sterling Intelligent Promising. When this objective is prioritized, fulfillment decisions are based primarily upon the most cost-effective way to ship orders while still meeting customer expectations.

Sterling Intelligent Promising considers the following variables when optimizing orders to minimize shipping costs:
  • Delivery date
  • Node carrier applicability
  • Carrier schedule
  • Ship date
  • Dimensional weight
  • Carrier rates and zones
  • Node calendar

Sterling Intelligent Promising then uses the following factors within shipping cost optimization:

  • Large-scale combinatorial optimization.
  • Transportation cost and SLA optimization at the time of source node selection.
  • Smart weight allocation.
  • Smart upgrade and downgrade to optimize cost and customer satisfaction.
  • Smart order splitting to reduce costs.
  • Order processing (labor) costs.

To calculate the shipping cost associated with each order, Sterling Intelligent Promising uses the Carrier transit rates data.

For more information on a real-time business case scenario, see Scenario: Shipping cost optimization.