I work for Republic Services, a large trash and recycling company operating in 41 out of 50 states. The shortest route application can absolutely be applied to my industry because every single day, the company sends out thousands of drivers to pick up trash and recycling. Our core values are, "safe, committed to serve, environmentally responsible, driven, and human-centered" (Republic Services, (n.d.). Our top leaders really emphasize the value of safety since some positions within the company are more on the dangerous side. Not only can linear programming help cut down on costs by solving the shortest-route problem, but it can also help keep drivers safer. If a route is not designed properly, a driver might feel like they have to hurry to make up for lost time. This could result in additional danger to the driver, and to people around. The textbook gave an example from Gorman Construction Company. "Gorman has several construction sites located throughout a three-county area. With multiple daily trips carrying personnel, equipment, and supplies from Gorman's office to the construction sites, the costs associated with transportation activities are substantial" (Anderson et al., 2016).

If Republic Services was to utilize linear programming models, I'm confident that they would have happier employees, and happier customers overall. This model would cause a major improvement to efficiency which allows for more homes or businesses to be serviced in less time. On top of that, our company is constantly looking for new technology to keep our employees safe and efficient, so the linear model application would be an added bonus overall. This is just another way that linear optimization and analytics can vastly improve customer satisfaction, efficiency, and overall profit.

References:

Republic Services. (n.d.). Ethics & compliance.RepublicServices.com. https://www.republicservices.com/about-us/ethics-compliance

Anderson, D. R., Sweeney, D. J., Williams, T. A., Camm, J. D., Cochran, J. L., Fry, M. J., & Ohlmann, J. W. (2016). Quantitative methods for business with CengageNOW (13th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 9781305799257

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