Optimization in the courier industry: a comprehensive Systematic Literature Review (SLR)

The courier industry is critical in today's fast-paced global economy, where efficient and cost-effective delivery services are in high demand. As customer expectations continue to rise, courier companies face mounting pressure to optimize their operations and streamline delivery processes. In response to these challenges, researchers and practitioners have increasingly turned to mathematical programming approaches to achieve enhanced efficiency, reduced costs, and improved customer satisfaction. The objective of this review paper is to review, analyze, and classify the existing work of literature related to optimization in the courier industry and to provide research directions. In this Systematic Literature Review (SLR), we collected, summarized, and analyzed research articles on the topic of optimization in the courier industry which were published between the years 2007 to 2022. We conducted this review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, ensuring a rigorous and transparent approach in analyzing relevant research articles related to optimization in the courier industry. Articles were searched using keywords, forward reference searching, and backward reference searching to search all the articles related to the topic. 15 articles were chosen for this SLR after carefully following the screening process for the study.