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2.15 Time Windows

Time windows represent a period of time within which either an order can be serviced or a location is open depending on the context.

Example: a location is open between 6:00-12:00, closed for lunch and open again between 13:00-17:00. Figure 1 shows how to represent this using time windows.

[
  {
    "start": "06:00",
    "end": "12:00"
  },
  {
    "start": "13:00",
    "end": "17:00"
  }
]

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Figure 1: Example Time Window in JSON format (top) and Excel format (bottom).
2.15.1 Arrival Only in Time Window

Time windows have two modes of operation. The first ensures that every pickup or delivery occurs within the specified time window. This is the default behaviour. The second is called “Arrival Only in Time Window”. This mode of operation make it so that the time window is satisfied for each pickup (or delivery) if the time window was satisfied upon the arrival of the vehicle at the location. This second mode of operation is only enabled when Batched Loads is also enabled.

PIC

Figure 2: Example route with time windows to illustrate “Arrival Only in Time Window” behaviour. All pickups and all deliveries are at the same location. Time windows shaded green are satisfied normally. If “Arrival Only in Time Window” is enabled, then time windows shaded yellow are also satisfied, since the arrival stop is within the time window. The time window shaded red is violated with both schemes, since neither the stop or the arrival stop are within the time window.

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