JP7612973B2 - Visiting plan creation system and visiting plan creation method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a visiting schedule creation system and a visiting schedule creation method.

Providers of products such as liquefied petroleum (LP) gas cylinders and vending machines regularly or irregularly visit the locations where the products are installed to replenish the products (LP gas, drinking water, etc.). This type of replenishment work is generally carried out by replenishment personnel who create a visiting plan in advance that lists the locations to be visited and the order in which they will be visited.

In addition, because product shortages can lead to lost sales opportunities and the need for sudden replenishment work, it is common to create visiting plans that prioritize locations with low product stock.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-3493 JP 2008-293262 A

However, traditionally, visit plans were created based on the intuition and experience of the person creating them. This resulted in inefficient visit plans, for example, without taking into account the locations of the places to be visited (or, in other words, the distance between the places to be visited). In addition, resource conditions such as the number of vehicles needed to transport goods or the working hours of replenishment staff were not taken into account, leading to replenishment work being carried out with an excessive number of vehicles, or conversely, replenishment staff being overworked.

One embodiment of the present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to create an efficient visiting plan.

To achieve the above object, a visiting plan creation system according to one embodiment is a visiting plan creation system that creates visiting plans for replenishing products at at least some of a plurality of visiting destinations, and includes a setting unit that sets planning conditions including the number of days remaining until the products run out, the number of vehicles available to transport the products, and the available working hours of a person in charge of replenishing the products, a creation unit that creates a plurality of visiting plans by simulating replenishing work for visiting destinations that require replenishing the products based on the planning conditions set by the setting unit, a calculation unit that calculates a predetermined index value for each of the plurality of visiting plans created by the creation unit, and an output unit that outputs the visiting plan with the highest index value calculated by the calculation unit among the plurality of visiting plans.

You can create an efficient visiting plan.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an overall configuration of a visiting schedule creation system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of creating a visiting schedule. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a visiting schedule creation device according to a first embodiment. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a visiting schedule creation device according to a first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of product management information. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a visiting schedule creation process according to the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of a case where a visiting schedule is re-created taking into account an unexpected visiting destination. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a visiting schedule creation process according to the second embodiment.

Each embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In each of the following embodiments, the product is assumed to be LP gas, and a visit plan for refilling gas cylinders installed in various locations with LP gas will be described. However, this is only one example, and the present invention can be similarly applied to the creation of a visit plan for refilling, delivering, selling, repairing, etc., any product. Specifically, the present invention can be similarly applied to the creation of a visit plan for refilling products such as drinking water in vending machines installed in various locations, and a visit plan for performing maintenance and repairs on equipment such as printers installed at customer sites.

[First embodiment]
In this embodiment, a visiting schedule creation system 1 is described that can create an efficient visiting schedule by taking into consideration the location of the place where the gas cylinder to be replenished with LP gas is installed (i.e., the visiting location), and resource conditions such as the number of vehicles needed to transport the LP gas to the visiting location and the working hours of the person in charge of replenishment.

<Overall configuration of visiting schedule creation system 1>
First, the overall configuration of a visiting schedule creation system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a visiting schedule creation system 1 according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the visit plan creation system 1 according to this embodiment includes a visit plan creation device 10, one or more user terminals 20, and multiple measuring instruments 30. The visit plan creation device 10 and each user terminal 20 are communicatively connected via any communication network such as the Internet. Similarly, the visit plan creation device 10 and each measuring instrument 30 are communicatively connected via any communication network.

The visit plan creation device 10 creates an optimal visit plan that satisfies the plan conditions, including the remaining number of available days, the number of vehicles, and the operating hours. Here, the remaining number of available days refers to the number of days remaining until the LP gas in the gas cylinder runs out, and gas cylinders with less than or equal to the remaining number of available days are subject to refilling. The number of vehicles refers to the number of vehicles that can be used to transport LP gas when refilling the gas cylinders to be refilled, for example, the number of vehicles owned by the LP gas vendor. The operating hours refer to the hours during which the person in charge of refilling the gas cylinders to be refilled (the person in charge of refilling) is available to work, for example, working hours.

The user terminal 20 is a terminal (e.g., a PC (personal computer), a smartphone, a tablet terminal, etc.) used by a person in charge of creating a visit plan. The person in charge of creating a visit plan can set plan conditions in the visit plan creation device 10 using the user terminal 20. In addition, when a visit plan is created by the visit plan creation device 10, the visit plan is displayed on the display of the user terminal 20.

The measuring device 30 is a device (e.g., a gas gauge) that measures the amount of LP gas remaining in a gas cylinder installed at each installation location. The measuring device 30 measures the amount of LP gas remaining in the gas cylinder being measured at predetermined times (e.g., once a day) and transmits the measurement result to the visit plan creation device 10 as remaining amount information. The remaining amount information includes, for example, gas cylinder identification information (hereinafter referred to as "product ID") and the remaining amount of LP gas in the gas cylinder. Note that in this embodiment, gas cylinders are installed at multiple installation locations (e.g., installation location A representing the location of customer A's store, installation location B representing the location of customer B's store, etc.).

The overall configuration of the visit plan creation system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and other configurations may be used. For example, a terminal used by the restocking staff may be included in the visit plan creation system 1, and the visit plan created by the visit plan creation device 10 may also be displayed on the display of this terminal. This allows the restocking staff to check the visit plan.

Here, an overview of the method by which the visiting plan creation device 10 according to this embodiment creates a visiting plan will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of creating a visiting plan.

The visit plan creation device 10 according to this embodiment executes a trial of "creating a visit plan by simulation based on the plan conditions" multiple times while changing the plan conditions, and outputs the visit plan with the best index value among the multiple visit plans created in these trials. The example shown in FIG. 2 shows how four trials, trial 1 to trial 4, were performed to create visit plans 1 to 4. Note that all of the plan conditions used in each trial may be set from the user terminal 20, or only one or several plan conditions may be set from the user terminal 20, and the remaining plan conditions may be created by having the visit plan creation device 10 change the plan conditions set from the user terminal 20.

For example, in trial 1, remaining available days = 1 day, number of vehicles = 10, and operating hours = 9:00-17:00 are set as planning conditions 1, and a simulation based on this planning condition 1 is performed to create visit plan 1. In addition to visit plan 1, the simulation also outputs the product remaining rate, which represents the percentage of the remaining LP gas in the gas cylinder when products are replenished according to visit plan 1 (i.e., (total remaining amount of all gas cylinders after product replenishment / total capacity of all gas cylinders) x 100), the total travel distance of the vehicles, and the total working hours of the replenishment staff. In the example shown in Figure 2, when planning condition 1 was created, the product remaining rate = 50%, total travel distance 500 km, and total working hours = 80 hours are output.

In this embodiment, for simplicity, the total operating time is calculated assuming that one restocking staff member uses one vehicle to perform the restocking work alone, but for example, two people may use one vehicle to perform the restocking work together. In this case, the total operating time will be twice as long as when one person performs the restocking work. In addition, whether to perform the restocking work alone using one vehicle or two people using one vehicle may be determined based on the experience of the restocking staff member, etc.

Here, the simulation refers to simulating the case where gas cylinders with remaining usable days or less are targeted for replenishment, and each replenishment staff performs replenishment work during working hours using a number of vehicles. Such a simulation can be realized, for example, by using a known simulator that solves optimization problems such as a transportation route problem or a VRP (Vehicle Routing Problem) based on the installation locations of the gas cylinders to be replenished, the number of vehicles, and the working hours of the replenishment staff to determine an optimal visit plan, and then simulates the replenishment work according to this visit plan.

Similarly, in trial 2, planning conditions 2 are set as remaining available days = 3 days, number of vehicles = 10, and operating hours = 9:00-17:00, and a simulation based on this planning condition 2 is performed to create visiting plan 2. In addition to visiting plan 2, the simulation also outputs the product remaining rate, total travel distance, and total operating time that would occur if products were replenished according to visiting plan 2. In the example shown in Figure 2, when planning conditions 2 were created, the product remaining rate = 70%, total travel distance = 650 km, and total operating time = 80 hours are output.

Similarly, in trial 3, planning conditions 3 are set as remaining available days = 3 days, number of vehicles = 15, and operating hours = 9:00-17:00, and a simulation based on this planning condition 3 is performed to create visit plan 3. In addition to visit plan 3, the simulation also outputs the product remaining rate, total travel distance, and total operating time that would occur if products were replenished according to visit plan 3. In the example shown in Figure 2, when planning conditions 3 were created, the product remaining rate = 80%, total travel distance = 1,000 km, and total operating time = 80 hours are output.

Similarly, in trial 4, planning conditions 4 are set as remaining available days = 3 days, number of vehicles = 10, and operating hours = 8:00-20:00, and a simulation based on this planning condition 4 is performed to create visit plan 4. In addition to visit plan 4, the simulation also outputs the product remaining rate, total travel distance, and total operating time that would occur if products were replenished according to visit plan 4. In the example shown in Figure 2, when planning condition 4 was created, the product remaining rate = 90%, total travel distance = 800 km, and total operating time = 120 hours are output.

Then, the visiting plan creation device 10 according to this embodiment selects the visiting plan that has the best index value determined by at least one of the remaining product rate, total travel distance, and total operating time from among the visiting plans created in each of these multiple trials, and outputs this visiting plan.

Generally speaking, a higher product remaining rate can prevent lost sales opportunities and the need for unexpected restocking. On the other hand, keeping the total distance traveled as short as possible can help reduce operating costs such as gasoline, and keeping the total operating hours as short as possible can increase operational efficiency and reduce labor costs such as overtime pay. Therefore, various index values can be determined taking these factors into consideration.

For example, the visiting plan with the highest index value (= product remaining rate) may be adopted, taking into consideration only the prevention of lost sales opportunities and unexpected replenishment operations. In this case, in the example shown in Figure 2, visiting plan 4 would be adopted.

Alternatively, for example, the visiting plan with the highest index value (index value = product remaining rate x (1/total operating time)) may be adopted, taking into consideration both the prevention of lost sales opportunities and unexpected replenishment work, and operational efficiency. In this case, in the example shown in Figure 2, visiting plan 3 would be adopted.

Similarly, for example, the index value may be the product remaining rate x (1/total distance traveled), or the product remaining rate x (1/total operating time) x (1/total distance traveled). In addition, for example, the scales of the product remaining rate, total operating time, and total distance traveled may be aligned, and the weighted sum of them may be used as the index value.

In addition, since the most important purpose of creating a visiting plan is considered to be to prevent lost sales opportunities and the occurrence of unexpected replenishment work, it is preferable to determine the index value using at least the product remaining rate.

As a result, the visit schedule creation device 10 according to this embodiment can create an efficient visit schedule by taking into consideration the location where the gas cylinders to be replenished are installed (i.e., the location of the place to be visited), the remaining amount of LP gas in all gas cylinders, and various resource conditions (number of vehicles, working hours, etc.).

In this embodiment, since LP gas is assumed as the product, the product unit price is often constant, but the product unit price may differ depending on the replenishment target. For example, when replenishing products in a vending machine, the product unit price may differ depending on the product to be replenished. In such a case, the index value may be determined using the product remaining rate for each product unit price in order to preferentially replenish products with a higher product unit price. Specifically, for example, if there is a product A with a product unit price a, a product B with a product unit price b, and a product C with a product unit price c, and the product remaining rate of product A is p _A , the product remaining rate of product B is p _B , and the product remaining rate of product C is p _C , the index value may be determined using the weighted sum of the product remaining rates with the product unit price as the weight, a×p _A +b×p _B +c×p _C. This makes it possible to create a visiting plan in which products with a higher product unit price are preferentially replenished while taking the product unit price into consideration, and for example, it becomes possible to prevent a decrease in sales due to a high-priced product being out of stock.

<Hardware configuration of the visiting schedule creation device 10>
Next, a hardware configuration of the visiting schedule creation device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the visiting schedule creation device 10 according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the visit schedule creation device 10 according to this embodiment is realized by the hardware of a general computer or computer system, and has an input device 11, a display device 12, an external I/F 13, a communication I/F 14, a processor 15, and a memory device 16. Each of these pieces of hardware is connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other via a bus 17.

The input device 11 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, etc. The display device 12 is, for example, a display, etc. Note that the visit schedule creation device 10 does not necessarily have to have at least one of the input device 11 and the display device 12.

The external I/F 13 is an interface with external devices such as a recording medium 13a. Examples of the recording medium 13a include a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), an SD memory card (Secure Digital memory card), and a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory card.

The communication I/F 14 is an interface for connecting the visiting schedule creation device 10 to a communication network. The processor 15 is, for example, various types of arithmetic devices such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The memory device 16 is, for example, various types of storage devices such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), and flash memory.

The visit plan creation device 10 according to this embodiment has the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 3, and is therefore capable of implementing the visit plan creation process described below. Note that the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 3 is merely an example, and the visit plan creation device 10 may have other hardware configurations. For example, the visit plan creation device 10 may have multiple processors 15, or multiple memory devices 16.

<Functional configuration of the visiting schedule creation device 10>
Next, a functional configuration of the visiting schedule creation device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the visiting schedule creation device 10 according to the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, the visit schedule creation device 10 according to this embodiment includes a product management unit 101, a condition setting unit 102, a simulation unit 103, an index value calculation unit 104, an end determination unit 105, a plan specification unit 106, and a plan presentation unit 107. Each of these units is realized by a process executed by the processor 15 of one or more programs installed in the visit schedule creation device 10.

The visiting schedule creation device 10 according to this embodiment also has a product management information storage unit 108. The storage unit can be realized, for example, by the memory device 16. Note that the storage unit may also be realized by a storage device (for example, a database server, etc.) connected to the visiting schedule creation device 10 via a communication network.

The product management unit 101 receives remaining amount information from each measuring device 30, and updates the remaining amount and remaining number of days of the product management information stored in the product management information storage unit 108 using the product ID and remaining amount contained in the remaining amount information. An example of product management information stored in the product management information storage unit 108 is shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 5, the product management information includes the product ID, the installation location of the gas cylinder of that product ID, the name of the customer using that gas cylinder, the remaining amount of that gas cylinder, and the number of days remaining until the LP gas in that gas cylinder runs out.

At this time, the product management unit 101 predicts the remaining number of days from the remaining amount included in the remaining amount information received from the measuring device 30, and updates the remaining amount and remaining number of days in the product management information corresponding to the product ID included in the remaining amount information with this remaining amount and remaining number of days. As a result, the remaining amount and remaining number of days included in each product management information are updated to the latest values at every specified time.

The remaining number of days can be calculated, for example, by dividing the remaining amount by the average gas usage per day. In this case, the average gas usage per day may be a value calculated in advance for each customer, a value calculated in advance for each industry or business type of the customer, or a value calculated in advance uniformly for all customers.

The condition setting unit 102 sets the planning conditions transmitted from the user terminal 20 as conditions to be used in the simulation by the simulation unit 103.

The simulation unit 103 performs a trial simulation based on the planning conditions set by the condition setting unit 102, and outputs a visiting plan, and the remaining product rate, total travel distance, and total operating time when products are replenished according to this visiting plan.

The index value calculation unit 104 calculates a predetermined index value using at least one of the remaining product quantity, the total travel distance, and the total operating time output by the simulation unit 103.

The termination determination unit 105 determines whether or not to terminate the trial by the simulation unit 103.

When the termination determination unit 105 determines that the trial is to be terminated, the plan identification unit 106 identifies the visiting plan with the best index value among the multiple visiting plans created by these trials.

The plan presentation unit 107 transmits the visit plan identified by the plan identification unit 106 to the user terminal 20. As a result, an efficient visit plan that takes into consideration the locations of the gas cylinders to be replenished, the remaining amount of LP gas in all gas cylinders, and various resource conditions is presented to the person in charge of creating the visit plan.

<Visit plan creation process flow>
Next, the flow of the visiting schedule creation process according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the visiting schedule creation process according to the first embodiment. Note that hereinafter, it is assumed that the remaining amount and remaining days of the product management information stored in the product management information storage unit 108 have been updated to the latest values. It is also assumed that at least one plan condition has been transmitted from the user terminal 20 to the visiting schedule creation device 10.

First, the condition setting unit 102 sets the planning conditions transmitted from the user terminal 20 (if multiple planning conditions are transmitted from the user terminal 20, one of the planning conditions) as the conditions to be used in the simulation by the simulation unit 103 (step S101). As described above, the planning conditions include the remaining number of available days, the number of vehicles, and the operating time.

Next, the simulation unit 103 identifies the gas cylinder to be replenished and its installation location from the remaining number of available days included in the planning conditions set by the condition setting unit 102 (step S102). That is, the simulation unit 103 refers to the product management information stored in the product management information storage unit 108, and identifies the product ID and installation location of the product management information that includes a remaining number of days equal to or less than the remaining number of available days. This product ID and installation location are the product ID and installation location of the gas cylinder to be replenished, respectively.

Next, the simulation unit 103 determines an optimal visiting plan by solving an optimization problem such as a transportation route problem or VRP, with the installation location of the gas cylinder to be replenished identified in step S102 as the visiting destination, and the number of vehicles and operation time included in the planning conditions set by the condition setting unit 102 as constraint conditions, and calculates and outputs the product remaining rate, total travel distance, and total operation time by simulating the replenishment work according to this visiting plan (step S103). This results in one attempt to create a visiting plan. Note that data required to solve the transportation route problem, VRP, and other optimization problems (e.g., road network data, etc.) is assumed to be known. Also, the optimization problem may be solved by simulation or by a known solving method.

When calculating the product remaining rate, the simulation unit 103 refers to the product management information stored in the product management information storage unit 108, and calculates the product remaining rate by (total remaining amount of all gas cylinders after carrying out the refilling work according to the visit plan) / (total capacity of all gas cylinders) x 100. Note that the capacity of the gas cylinders is assumed to be known.

Next, the index value calculation unit 104 calculates a predetermined index value using at least one of the remaining product quantity, total travel distance, and total operating time output in step S103 above (step S104). As described above, the type of index value to be calculated is appropriately determined depending on the extent to which the purpose (e.g., preventing lost sales opportunities and unexpected replenishment work, reducing operating costs such as vehicle gasoline costs, reducing labor costs by reducing operating hours, etc.) is to be achieved by creating a visiting plan.

Depending on the simulator that realizes the simulation unit 103 and its settings, a visiting plan that does not visit some destinations may be accepted as a solution to the optimization problem in step S103 above (i.e., some of the gas cylinders to be replenished may not be replenished). When such a visiting plan is obtained as a solution, the index value calculation unit 104 may impose a predetermined penalty on the index value corresponding to the visiting plan (for example, by adding a predetermined large negative value). This makes it possible to prevent a visiting plan that does not visit all of the gas cylinders to be replenished from being presented to the user.

Next, the end determination unit 105 determines whether or not to end the trial by the simulation unit 103 (step S105). Here, the end determination unit 105 may determine that the trial is ended, for example, when the number of trials exceeds a predetermined number.

If it is not determined in step S105 above that the trial should be ended, the condition setting unit 102 changes the planning conditions, sets the new planning conditions after the change as the conditions to be used in the simulation by the simulation unit 103 (step S106), and returns to step S102. This causes an attempt to create the next visiting plan.

When multiple planning conditions are transmitted from the user terminal 20, the condition setting unit 102 may set a planning condition that has not yet been set from among the multiple planning conditions as a new planning condition. When only one planning condition is transmitted from the user terminal 20 or when there are no planning conditions that have not yet been set, the condition setting unit 102 may create a new planning condition by changing a planning condition that has already been set once according to a predetermined rule. Specifically, for example, the number of remaining available days included in the planning condition set in the previous trial may be increased or decreased by a predetermined number of days, the number of vehicles included in the planning condition may be increased or decreased by a predetermined number, the operating time included in the planning condition may be changed to a predetermined operating time, or a combination of these may be considered.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S105 above that the trial should be terminated, the plan identification unit 106 identifies the visiting plan with the best index value among the multiple visiting plans created in each trial (step S107).

Then, the plan presentation unit 107 transmits the visit plan identified in step S107 above to the user terminal 20 (step S108). As a result, an efficient visit plan that takes into consideration the locations of the gas cylinders to be replenished, the remaining LP gas rate in all gas cylinders, and various resource conditions is presented to the person in charge of creating the visit plan.

As described above, the visit plan creation system 1 according to this embodiment creates multiple visit plans by varying conditions such as product stock, number of vehicles, and operating hours, and then presents the user with the visit plan that has the best target index value among these multiple visit plans. This makes it possible to create the most efficient visit plan that achieves various objectives, such as preventing lost sales opportunities and unexpected replenishment work, reducing operating costs such as vehicle gasoline costs, and reducing labor costs by reducing work hours.

[Second embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment will be described. In general, a visit plan is often a plan for a replenishment operation to be performed N days later. In other words, a visit plan is often created N days before the actual replenishment operation is to be performed. Note that N differs depending on the type of product, etc., but in the case of LP gas, it is considered that N=1 to N=3 is often the case.

However, there is a possibility that a location that needs to be visited suddenly arises on the day of or the day before the refilling work is to be performed. For example, a sudden increase in LPG usage may make a refill suddenly necessary.

Therefore, in the second embodiment, we will explain how to recreate the visit plan created in the first embodiment so that when such a visit destination (hereinafter referred to as a "spontaneous visit destination") occurs on the day of or the day before the replenishment work, the visit plan created in the first embodiment is also visited.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, when a visiting plan is created N days before a replenishment job, "Visiting destination X," "Visiting destination Y," and "Visiting destination Z" are assumed to have occurred as unexpected visiting destinations. Also, assume that a visiting time of "9:00" is specified for "Visiting destination Z." In this case, in the second embodiment, these unexpected visiting destinations (and visiting times) are added, and a re-simulation is performed to change some of the planning conditions (e.g., operating hours, etc.) as necessary to recreate the visiting plan. This makes it possible to recreate a visiting plan that can also visit unexpected visiting destinations, based on the visiting plan created in the first embodiment.

Note that in the second embodiment, the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and descriptions of components that are the same as those in the first embodiment will be omitted.

<Visit plan creation process flow>
Next, the flow of the visiting schedule creation process according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 8. Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the visiting schedule creation process according to the second embodiment. Note that hereinafter, it is assumed that the visiting schedule described in the first embodiment has been created N days before the replenishment work, assuming that the replenishment work is performed on the day or the day before. In addition, it is assumed that information regarding the unexpected visit destination has been transmitted from the user terminal 20 to the visiting schedule creation device 10.

First, the condition setting unit 102 acquires information about the unexpected visit destination transmitted from the user terminal 20 (step S201). Here, the information about the unexpected visit destination includes, for example, at least the product ID of the gas cylinder that suddenly needs to be refilled. However, it is not limited to the product ID, and any information that can identify the gas cylinder that suddenly needs to be refilled may be used. Furthermore, in addition to the product ID, for example, the visiting time specified by the customer or the like may be included in the information about the unexpected visit destination.

Next, the simulation unit 103 refers to the product management information stored in the product management information storage unit 108, and identifies the installation location of the gas cylinder corresponding to the product ID included in the information acquired in step S201 (step S202). This installation location is the installation location of the gas cylinder for which the unexpected refill occurred.

Next, the simulation unit 103 adds the installation locations identified in step S202 as visit destinations included in the visit plan created N days ago, and then creates an optimal visit plan by solving an optimization problem such as a transportation route problem or a VRP, with the number of vehicles and the operating time at the time of creating the visit plan as constraints (step S203). At this time, if a visit time is specified for the unexpected visit destination, the visit time is also set as a constraint. The number of vehicles and the operating time may be changed. For example, the number of vehicles in the visit plan created N days ago was 10, but if the number of available vehicles increases later (for example, if there is a surplus of vehicles or replenishment personnel), the number of vehicles may be increased. Similarly, for example, the operating time in the visit plan created N days ago was 9:00 to 17:00, but if overtime is permitted later, the operating time may be increased. Note that in addition to increasing the number of vehicles and the operating time, the number of vehicles may be reduced if an absence occurs on the day of replenishment work, or the operating time may be reduced if there is a surplus of personnel even after taking into account the unexpected visit.

Then, the plan presentation unit 107 transmits the visit plan identified in step S203 above to the user terminal 20 (step S204). As a result, an efficient visit plan is presented to the person in charge of creating the visit plan, taking into consideration the locations of the gas cylinders to be replenished, the remaining LP gas rate in all gas cylinders, various resource conditions, and also unexpected visit destinations.

As described above, the visit plan creation system 1 according to this embodiment presents the user with a visit plan that also visits unexpected destinations based on the visit plan with the best index value desired by the user (i.e., the visit plan created in the first embodiment). This makes it possible to create the most efficient visit plan that also takes into account destinations where a sudden need for replenishment arises on the day of or the day before the replenishment work, for example.

The present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments above, and various modifications, changes, and combinations with known technologies are possible without departing from the scope of the claims.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Visiting schedule creation system 10 Visiting schedule creation device 11 Input device 12 Display device 13 External I/F
13a Recording medium 14 Communication I/F
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 15 Processor 16 Memory device 17 Bus 101 Product management unit 102 Condition setting unit 103 Simulation unit 104 Index value calculation unit 105 End determination unit 106 Plan specification unit 107 Plan presentation unit 108 Product management information storage unit

Claims (6)

A visiting schedule creation system that creates a visiting schedule for replenishing products at at least some of a plurality of visiting destinations,
A setting unit that sets a schedule condition including the number of days remaining until the product runs out, the number of vehicles available for transporting the product, and the available operating hours of a person in charge of replenishing the product;
a creating unit that creates a plurality of the visiting schedules by simulating a replenishment operation for a visiting destination that needs to replenish the products based on the planning conditions set by the setting unit;
a calculation unit that calculates a predetermined index value for each of the plurality of visiting schedules created by the creation unit;
an output unit that outputs a visiting plan having the highest index value calculated by the calculation unit among the plurality of visiting plans;
having
The creation unit is
Calculating the remaining rate of the product, the total mileage of the vehicle, and the total working time of the person in charge when simulating the replenishment work;
The calculation unit is
A visiting schedule creation system that calculates the index value from at least one of the remaining capacity rate, the total travel distance, and the total operating time . The creation unit is
The visiting schedule creation system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of visiting schedules are created by simulating each of the replenishment operations while changing at least one of the remaining days, the number of vehicles, and the operating hours included in the planning conditions set by the setting unit. The creation unit is
3. The visiting schedule creation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the visiting schedule is created by solving an optimization problem based on the planning conditions through simulation, and the remaining rate, the total traveling distance, and the total operating time are calculated by simulating the replenishment work in accordance with the visiting schedule. The calculation unit is
The visiting schedule creating system according to claim 1 , wherein the index value is calculated by multiplying at least two of the remaining capacity rate, the inverse of the total travel distance, and the inverse of the total operating time. The creation unit is
5. A visiting plan creation system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, which creates a new visiting plan by adding a visiting destination where there is a sudden need to replenish the products to the visiting destinations included in the visiting plan output by the output unit and simulating the replenishment work. A visiting schedule creation method executed by a visiting schedule creation system that creates a visiting schedule for replenishing products at at least some of a plurality of visiting destinations, the method comprising:
A setting procedure for setting planning conditions including the number of days remaining until the product runs out, the number of vehicles available for transporting the product, and the available operating hours of a person in charge of replenishing the product;
a creating step of creating a plurality of the visiting schedules by simulating a replenishment operation for a visiting destination that needs to replenish the products based on the planning conditions set in the setting step;
a calculation step of calculating a predetermined index value for each of the plurality of visiting plans created in the creation step;
an output step of outputting a visiting plan having the highest index value calculated in the calculation step among the plurality of visiting plans;
having
The preparation procedure is as follows:
Calculating the remaining rate of the product, the total mileage of the vehicle, and the total working time of the person in charge when simulating the replenishment work;
The calculation procedure is as follows:
A visiting schedule creating method , comprising: calculating the index value from at least one of the remaining capacity rate, the total travel distance, and the total operating time .

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