A Decision Support System for Fleet Management: A Linear Programming Approach

This paper describes a successful implementation of a decision support system that is used by the fleet management division at North American Van Lines to plan fleet configuration. At the heart of the system is a large linear programming (LP) model that helps management decide what type of tractors to sell to owner/operators or to trade in each week. The system is used to answer a wide variety of “What if” questions, many of which have significant financial impact.