Dynamic Pre-Loading of Newspaper Bundles

The newspaper distribution organizations use trucks to distribute newspaper bundles to drop-offs for further delivery. Today, the loading process in the distribution center depends on earlier production processes, since the bundles are loaded online, in sequence with the mailroom and printing activities. However, by pre-loading the newspaper bundles on pallets, the trucks can arrive at the loading dock when the entire load has been produced. Furthermore, the truck drivers do not have to wait at the loading dock if the production is interrupted. In this paper we describe how the arrival time at the loading dock for truck drivers can be reduced by pre-loading and we argue that this will result in reduced waiting times and will also reduce the total cost for transportation and give more flexibility to the loading process. Pre-loading also creates a buffer between the printing press and the loading operation. The buffer makes the distribution operation less dependent on the reliability of the printing process.