基于动态遗传算法的共享配送模式研究

针对传统配送中配送车辆装载率低、车辆数量多及配送成本高等问题,提出不同类型零售商资源共享的城市配送优化方法,并考虑配送中的车辆油耗与不确定需求等问题。以总配送成本最低为目标建立模型,利用基于动态参数的改进遗传算法对模型进行求解。最后,通过算例对共享配送模式与算法进行测试。结果表明,共享配送模式能够有效减低车辆数量、提高装载率及降低配送成本,同时改进遗传算法能够高效、准确对模型求解。     

带时间窗的三维装载物流配送优化方法研究

针对城市物流配送优化研究在客户服务时间窗和货物装载方式合理结合方面存在的不足,考虑物流配送车厢货物装载方式与客户访问序列相关的特征对车厢空间进行合理的区域划分。首先,构建了包含配送中心的固定成本、配送车辆的运输成本、维修成本、租赁成本和违反时间窗惩罚成本的物流运营成本最小化和配送车辆空间利用率最大化的双目标优化模型;然后,提出一种结合遗传算法(GA)全局搜索能力和禁忌搜索算法(TS)局部搜索能力的GA-TS混合算法求解模型;最后,结合重庆市某配送中心的三维装载物流配送实例数据进行了优化计算,实验结果给出了带时间窗的三维装载物流配送路径优化方案,并进行了不同车厢空间分区模式下平均装载率、物流运营成本和车辆使用数的比较分析。研究表明,当客户需求货物种类数与车辆的空间区域划分数相等且按货物类型进行区域划分时,物流运营成本最小,配送车辆使用数最少和车辆平均装载率最高。     

成品油配送多车舱车辆指派及路径优化问题研究

针对成品油配送中多车型、多车舱的车辆优化调度难题,综合考虑多车型车辆指派、多车舱车辆装载及路径安排等决策,以派车成本与油耗成本之和的总成本最小为目标,建立了多车型多车舱的车辆优化调度模型。为降低模型求解的复杂性,本文提出一种基于C-W节约算法的“需求拆分→合并装载”的车辆装载策略,并综合利用Relocate和Exchange算子进行并行邻域搜索改进,获得优化的成品油配送方案。最后,通过算例验证了本文提出的模型与算法用于求解大规模成品油配送问题的有效性。并通过数据实验揭示了以下规律:1)多车舱车辆相对于单车舱车辆在运营成本上具有优越性;2)大型车辆适合远距离配送,小型车辆适合近距离配送;3)多车型车辆混合配送相对于单车型车辆配送在运营成本上具有优越性。这些规律可为成品油配送公司的车辆配置提供决策参考。     

基于Voronoi划分的同城即时配送优化策略研究

近年来经济社会发展及新零售业强势崛起使得平台或商家对大规模即时配送需求日益增加,在求解大规模车辆路径问题时仅使用启发式算法或其融合算法已无法满足实际需求。本文针对基于分众级的同城即时配送模式及现阶段存在的问题,确定了基于Voronoi划分算法的即时配送分区方法和对基础蚁群算法的三个改进策略;并以全程配送产生的总成本最少为目标函数,构建了带用户需求软时间窗的车辆路径问题数学模型;最后选取客户、车辆以及门店共计一百二十个真实地理位置数据,验证了本文提出的求解策略的有效性,并分析最终结果。结果显示,①使用Voronoi分区-改进蚁群算法的两阶段方法求解大规模车辆路径问题能显著减少配送总成本,同时提升客户满意度;②在多门店的条件假设下,采用改进蚁群算法求解得到的超时时间比基础蚁群算法少36%,配送总成本低17%。     

客户动态变更配送需求的配送路线优化研究

针对物流配送途中客户动态变更配送需求问题,分别研究了满足客户临时变更收货时间窗、收货地址和取消收货的三种要求时所需成本相较于预先设计配送路径所需成本的波动值,建立了客户临时变更配送需求的动态管理模型.基于嵌套分割算法,设计了邻近救援策略、最佳离库策略、增派车辆策略对模型进行求解.最后,通过算例试验,证明模型可以有效的降低物流配送成本,且具有更强的实用性、灵活性,且嵌套分割算法还在数据优化、计算时间上有显著成效.     

物流配送车辆路径问题的鲁棒优化方法

针对物流配送中的不确定性因素,构建车辆路径间题的鲁棒性度量与优化方法,目的是降低不确定性因素对物流配送系统的影响.首先,提出车辆路径问题的鲁棒性度量指标,利用算例对各指标的效果进行分析,选择适用于度量车辆路径方案鲁棒性的指标.在此基础上,设计物流配送车辆路径规划的两阶段优化算法.算法的第一阶段不考虑车辆路径的鲁棒性,以总配送成本最小为目标函数优化配送方案;算法的第二阶段以鲁棒性度量指标最大为目标函数,以第一阶段获得的总成本与车辆数为约束条件,优化鲁棒调度方案.文章为车辆路径问题的鲁棒性度量提供了一种有效方法,同时为如何平衡供应链中的物流配送环节的服务作业成本与调度方案鲁棒性提供了思路.     

带有时间窗的生鲜物流配送路径优化研究

随着生鲜消费的日益增多,生鲜物流配送也面临着如何在快速安全的条件下满足人们对生鲜的需求,使消费者在最短的时间得到最新鲜产品的现实问题,提出带有时间窗的生鲜物流配送车辆路径问题.充分考虑配送距离、车辆固定成本、生鲜损耗等多种因素,设计以配送损耗为可变成本和车辆启动费用为固定成本之和最小的优化目标,建立带有时间窗生鲜损耗的配送模型.针对模型的特征,设计自适应遗传算法求解该模型.最后,结合仿真算例来验证模型与算法的有效性.     

带时间窗口的超市物流配送不确定规划模型

主要研究了不确定环境下带时间窗口的超市物流配送问题。假设超市的日需求量是不确定变量,在配送过程中车辆的行驶时间也为不确定变量。为了最小化配送过程中车辆行驶时间,建立了不确定机会约束模型。然后应用不确定变量的运算法则对模型进行等价转化,并为求解模型设计了算法。最后给出了一个数值算例来说明模型的实际应用。     

冷链物流同时送取货车辆路径优化

针对冷链物流同时送取货车辆路径优化问题,分析冷链物流配送中的车辆固定成本、行驶成本、制冷成本和货损成本等成本构成,以总成本最小化为目标,将冷链物流配送的送货和取货业务综合到每一个客户节点,建立单个配送中心和多个客户节点的冷链物流配送车辆路径优化模型,并采用遗传算法进行求解,算例分析验证了所建模型和设计算法的适用性和可行性,结果表明优化后的同时送取货车辆配送方案能够降低配送成本,提高配送效率,研究结论对冷链物流配送决策具有重要的参考价值.     

考虑越库作业的连锁超市配送路径优化研究

针对大型连锁超市物流配送成本较高的问题,通过分析连锁超市的实际情况和越库作业的实施要求,提出越库配送运作模式.以车辆运输成本、操作成本和库存持有成本最小化为目标,建立带有多越库配送中心的车辆路径模型,将配送过程分为集货、送货两阶段,同时,考虑到产品种类需求的多样化,采取集货过程车辆协同进行和送货过程车辆需求拆分的方式.针对问题的特点设计了一个求解的遗传算法,通过扫描算法优化初始种群,最后结合算例对模型和算法进行验证分析.结果表明,越库作业能有效地提高连锁超市的运作效率,降低超市物流成本.     

Solving the capacitated vehicle routing problem using the ALGELECT electrostatic algorithm

The capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) with a single depot is a classic routing problem with numerous real-world applications. This paper describes the design, modelling and computational aspects of ALGELECT (electrostatic algorithm), a new algorithm for the CVRP. After some general remarks about the origin of the algorithm and its parameters, a parameter tuning process is carried out in order to improve its efficiency. The algorithm is then explained in detail and its main characteristics are presented. Thus, ALGELECT develops good-quality solutions to the CVRP, in terms of the number of scheduled routes and the load ratio of the delivery vehicles. Finally, ALGELECT is used to find solutions for some Solomon's and Augerat's instances, which are then compared to solutions generated by other well-known methods.     

Finished-vehicle transporter routing problem solved by loading pattern discovery

This work addresses a new transportation problem in outbound logistics in the automobile industry: the finished-vehicle transporter routing problem (FVTRP). The FVTRP is a practical routing problem with loading constraints, and it assumes that dealers have deterministic demands for finished vehicles that have three-dimensional irregular shapes. The problem solution will identify optimal routes while satisfying demands. In terms of complex packing, finished vehicles are not directly loaded into the spaces of transporters; instead, loading patterns matching finished vehicles with transporters are identified first by mining successful loading records through virtual and manual loading test procedures, such that the packing problem is practically solved with the help of a procedure to discover loading patterns. This work proposes a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for the FVTRP considering loading patterns. As a special class of routing models, the FVTRP is typically difficult to solve within a manageable computing time. Thus, an evolutionary algorithm is designed to solve the FVTRP. Comparisons of the proposed algorithm and a commercial MILP solver demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is more effective in solving medium- and large-scale problems. The proposed scheme for addressing the FVTRP is illustrated with an example and tested with benchmark instances that are derived from well-studied vehicle routing datasets.     

A new efficient approach for solving the capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem using the Gravitational Emulation Local Search Algorithm

Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) is one of the most famous specialized forms of the VRP, which has attracted considerable attention from scientists and researchers. Therefore, many accurate, heuristic, and meta-heuristic methods have been introduced to solve this problem in recent decades. In this paper, a new meta-heuristic optimization algorithm is introduced to solve the CVRP, which is based on the law of gravity and group interactions. The proposed algorithm uses two of the four basic parameters of velocity and gravitational force in physics based on the concepts of random search and searching agents, which are a collection of masses that interact with each other based on Newtonian gravity and the laws of motion. The introduced method was quantitatively compared with the State-of-the-Art algorithms in terms of execution time and number of optimal solutions achieved in four well-known benchmark problems. Our experiments illustrated that the proposed method could be a very efficient method in solving CVRP and the results are comparable with the results using state-of-the-art computational methods. Moreover, in some cases our method could produce solutions with less number of required vehicles compared to the Best Known Solution (BKS) in a very efficient manner, which is another advantage of the proposed algorithm.     

A branch-and-cut-and-price algorithm for the cumulative capacitated vehicle routing problem

In this paper we consider the Cumulative Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CCVRP), which is a variation of the well-known Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). In this problem, the traditional objective of minimizing total distance or time traveled by the vehicles is replaced by minimizing the sum of arrival times at the customers. We propose a branch-and-cut-and-price algorithm for obtaining optimal solutions to the problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published exact algorithm for the CCVRP. We present computational results based on a set of standard CVRP benchmarks and investigate the effect of modifying the number of vehicles available.     

Polyhedral study of the capacitated vehicle routing problem

The capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) considered in this paper occurs when goods must be delivered from a central depot to clients with known demands, usingk vehicles of fixed capacity. Each client must be assigned to exactly one of the vehicles. The set of clients assigned to each vehicle must satisfy the capacity constraint. The goal is to minimize the total distance traveled. When the capacity of the vehicles is large enough, this problem reduces to the famous traveling salesman problem (TSP). A variant of the problem in which each client is visited by at least one vehicle, called the graphical vehicle routing problem (GVRP), is also considered in this paper and used as a relaxation of CVRP. Our approach for CVRP and GVRP is to extend the polyhedral results known for TSP. For example, the subtour elimination constraints can be generalized to facets of both CVRP and GVRP. Interesting classes of facets arise as a generalization of the comb inequalities, depending on whether the depot is in a handle, a tooth, both or neither. We report on the optimal solution of two problem instances by a cutting plane algorithm that only uses inequalities from the above classes.This work was supported in part by NSF grant DDM-8901495.     

A unified exact method for solving different classes of vehicle routing problems

This paper presents a unified exact method for solving an extended model of the well-known Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), called the Heterogenous Vehicle Routing Problem (HVRP), where a mixed fleet of vehicles having different capacities, routing and fixed costs is used to supply a set of customers. The HVRP model considered in this paper contains as special cases: the Single Depot CVRP, all variants of the HVRP presented in the literature, the Site-Dependent Vehicle Routing Problem (SDVRP) and the Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem (MDVRP). This paper presents an exact algorithm for the HVRP based on the set partitioning formulation. The exact algorithm uses three types of bounding procedures based on the LP-relaxation and on the Lagrangean relaxation of the mathematical formulation. The bounding procedures allow to reduce the number of variables of the formulation so that the resulting problem can be solved by an integer linear programming solver. Extensive computational results over the main instances from the literature of the different variants of HVRPs, SDVRP and MDVRP show that the proposed lower bound is superior to the ones presented in the literature and that the exact algorithm can solve, for the first time ever, several test instances of all problem types considered.      

On the use of Monte Carlo simulation,cache and splitting techniques to improve the Clarke and Wright savings heuristics

This paper presents the SR-GCWS-CS probabilistic algorithm that combines Monte Carlo simulation with splitting techniques and the Clarke and Wright savings heuristic to find competitive quasi-optimal solutions to the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) in reasonable response times. The algorithm, which does not require complex fine-tuning processes, can be used as an alternative to other metaheuristics—such as Simulated Annealing, Tabu Search, Genetic Algorithms, Ant Colony Optimization or GRASP, which might be more difficult to implement and which might require non-trivial fine-tuning processes—when solving CVRP instances. As discussed in the paper, the probabilistic approach presented here aims to provide a relatively simple and yet flexible algorithm which benefits from: (a) the use of the geometric distribution to guide the random search process, and (b) efficient cache and splitting techniques that contribute to significantly reduce computational times. The algorithm is validated through a set of CVRP standard benchmarks and competitive results are obtained in all tested cases. Future work regarding the use of parallel programming to efficiently solve large-scale CVRP instances is discussed. Finally, it is important to notice that some of the principles of the approach presented here might serve as a base to develop similar algorithms for other routing and scheduling combinatorial problems.     

A branch-and-cut algorithm for the capacitated open vehicle routing problem

In open vehicle routing problems, the vehicles are not required to return to the depot after completing service. In this paper, we present the first exact optimization algorithm for the open version of the well-known capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). The algorithm is based on branch-and-cut. We show that, even though the open CVRP initially looks like a minor variation of the standard CVRP, the integer programming formulation and cutting planes need to be modified in subtle ways. Computational results are given for several standard test instances, which enables us for the first time to assess the quality of existing heuristic methods, and to compare the relative difficulty of open and closed versions of the same problem.     

Solving multiobjective vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand via evolutionary computation

This paper considers the routing of vehicles with limited capacity from a central depot to a set of geographically dispersed customers where actual demand is revealed only when the vehicle arrives at the customer. The solution to this vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand (VRPSD) involves the optimization of complete routing schedules with minimum travel distance, driver remuneration, and number of vehicles, subject to a number of constraints such as time windows and vehicle capacity. To solve such a multiobjective and multi-modal combinatorial optimization problem, this paper presents a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm that incorporates two VRPSD-specific heuristics for local exploitation and a route simulation method to evaluate the fitness of solutions. A new way of assessing the quality of solutions to the VRPSD on top of comparing their expected costs is also proposed. It is shown that the algorithm is capable of finding useful tradeoff solutions for the VRPSD and the solutions are robust to the stochastic nature of the problem. The developed algorithm is further validated on a few VRPSD instances adapted from Solomon’s vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) benchmark problems.