The award-winning research stems from a 1.5-year sponsored project with MIT EMeL, conducted in close collaboration with Food Forward South Africa, Stellenbosch University, and MIT partners. The project applied state-of-the-art modeling and solution algorithms to achieve significant operational improvements, reducing assignment planning time by 80% and boosting vehicle efficiency by 15% across long-haul and urban delivery routes. These advancements strengthened the market competitiveness of the sponsoring organization and demonstrate the impact of context-driven optimization in emerging market logistics.
Special acknowledgments go to Ane Jansen van Vuuren, Dr. Euodia Vermeulen, and Prof. Saartjie Grobbelaar for their integral contributions.
Watch the presentation of the research by Dr. Gutierrez-Franco here.
