Finding minimum cost transportation routes for orders through a transportation network

A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a process to implement finding minimum cost transportation routes by consolidating orders under relaxed constraints, the process comprising:

• receiving a set of orders, at least some of the orders having one or more order constraints, the order constraints comprising at least one of, a time constraint, a consolidation constraint, and a packing constraint;
• mapping the orders onto one or more transportation legs, at least some of the transportation legs having leg constraints;
• determining a set of candidate paths through a transportation network for the set of orders, wherein the determination of any one of the candidate paths is made subject to honoring respective order constraints;
• analyzing the set of candidate paths based at least in part upon a cost of transporting the orders using the transportation legs;
• and
• mapping at least some of the orders of the set of orders to a selected one of the analyzed candidate paths.

A computer system comprising:

• a consolidator module to receive a set of orders, at least some of the orders having one or more order constraints, the order constraints comprising at least one of, a time constraint, a consolidation constraint, and a packing constraint, wherein the orders are mapped onto one or more transportation legs, at least some of the transportation legs having leg constraints;
• a routing engine solver to determine a set of candidate paths through a transportation network for the set of orders, wherein the determination of any one of the candidate paths is made subject to honoring respective order constraints;
• and
• a mapping engine to analyze the set of candidate paths based at least in part upon a cost of transporting the orders using the transportation legs, the set of analyzed candidate paths used in mapping at least some of the orders of the set of orders to a selected one of the analyzed candidate paths.