Scatter search for the fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows

This work proposes a scatter search (SS) approach to solve the fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows (FSMVRPTW). In the FSMVRPTW the customers need to be serviced in their time windows at minimal costs by a heterogeneous fleet. Computational results on 168 benchmark problems are reported. Computational testing revealed that our algorithm presented better results compared to other methods published in the literature.     

CLOVES: A cluster-and-search heuristic to solve the vehicle routing problem with delivery and pick-up

This paper addresses the vehicle routing problem with sequence-constrained delivery and pick-up (VRPDP). We propose a multi-phase constructive heuristic that clusters nodes based on proximity, orients them along a route using shrink-wrap algorithm and allots vehicles using generalized assignment procedure. We employ genetic algorithm for an intensive final search. Trials on a large number of test-problems have yielded encouraging results.     

Incorporating inventory and routing costs in strategic location models

We consider a supply chain design problem where the decision maker needs to decide the number and locations of the distribution centers (DCs). Customers face random demand, and each DC maintains a certain amount of safety stock in order to achieve a certain service level for the customers it serves. The objective is to minimize the total cost that includes location costs and inventory costs at the DCs, and distribution costs in the supply chain. We show that this problem can be formulated as a nonlinear integer programming model, for which we propose a Lagrangian relaxation based solution algorithm. By exploring the structure of the problem, we find a low-order polynomial algorithm for the nonlinear integer programming problem that must be solved in solving the Lagrangian relaxation sub-problems. We present computational results for several instances of the problem with sizes ranging from 40 to 320 customers. Our results show the benefits of having an integrated supply chain design framework that includes location, inventory, and routing decisions in the same optimization model.     

Cyclic-order neighborhoods with application to the vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand

We examine neighborhood structures for heuristic search applicable to a general class of vehicle routing problems (VRPs). Our methodology utilizes a cyclic-order solution encoding, which maps a permutation of the customer set to a collection of many possible VRP solutions. We identify the best VRP solution in this collection via a polynomial-time algorithm from the literature. We design neighborhoods to search the space of cyclic orders. Utilizing a simulated annealing framework, we demonstrate the potential of cyclic-order neighborhoods to facilitate the discovery of high quality a priori solutions for the vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand (VRPSD). Without tailoring our solution procedure to this specific routing problem, we are able to match 16 of 19 known optimal VRPSD solutions. We also propose an updating procedure to evaluate the neighbors of a current solution and demonstrate its ability to reduce the computational expense of our approach.     

A school bus scheduling problem

This paper introduces a school bus scheduling problem wherein trips for each school are given. A trip consists of a sequence of bus stops and their designated school. Each school has its fixed time window within which trips should be completed. A school bus can serve multiple trips for multiple schools. The school bus scheduling problem seeks to optimize bus schedules to serve all the given trips considering the school time windows. We first model the problem as a vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) by treating a trip as a virtual stop. Two assignment problem based exact approaches are then proposed for special cases and a heuristic algorithm is proposed for more general cases. Benchmark problems and computational experiments are presented. Computational experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.     

智能网联下无人车配送路径优化

结合智能网联无人车实时信息共享与路径选择的特点,研究其配送路径优化问题。通过引进关键点更新策略,制定路径预规划阶段和路径实时调整阶段无人车路径选择策略,提出智能网联环境下基于实时交通信息的车辆路径问题两阶段模型。其中,路径预规划阶段模型确定初始路径与每辆车服务的客户点,路径实时调整阶段模型对每辆车的路径实时调整。对于该优化模型设计遗传算法进行求解,并通过算例验证了模型与算法的可行性。研究结果表明,本文构建的无人车配送优化模型,有效的结合了无人车实时通信与路径选择的特点,节省了无人车配送时间。研究对于无人车在第三方物流配送领域的推广应用具有一定的探索意义。     

A solution approach to the inventory routing problem in a three-level distribution system

We consider the infinite horizon inventory routing problem in a three-level distribution system with a vendor, a warehouse and multiple geographically dispersed retailers. In this problem, each retailer faces a demand at a deterministic, retailer-specific rate for a single product. The demand of each retailer is replenished either from the vendor through the warehouse or directly from the vendor. Inventories are kept at both the retailers and the warehouse. The objective is to determine a combined transportation (routing) and inventory strategy minimizing a long-run average system-wide cost while meeting the demand of each retailer without shortage. We present a decomposition solution approach based on a fixed partition policy where the retailers are partitioned into disjoint and collectively exhaustive sets and each set of retailers is served on a separate route. Given a fixed partition, the original problem is decomposed into three sub-problems. Efficient algorithms are developed for the sub-problems by exploring important properties of their optimal solutions. A genetic algorithm is proposed to find a near-optimal fixed partition for the problem. Computational results show the performance of the solution approach.     

随机需求的车辆路线问题的新模型

本主要研究随机需求的VRP问题,其中服务需求量满足二项式分布,根据期望值的大小我们提出了在一条路线上理想最大服务点数的新概念,并在此基础上建立了三种VRP问题的新模型,由于允许服务失败两次和部分服务使得模糊能适应多种实际问题,以模拟退火思想为基础的两阶段方法经修正后用于解新模型并取得较好的数值结果,理论分析和数值结果表明,新模型较好地描述随机需求的VRP问题,并且容易求解。     

Gossip algorithms for heterogeneous multi-vehicle routing problems

In this paper we address a class of heterogeneous multi-vehicle task assignment and routing problems. We propose two distributed algorithms based on gossip communication: the first algorithm is based on a local exact optimization and the second is based on a local approximate greedy heuristic. We consider the case where a set of heterogeneous tasks arbitrarily distributed in a plane has to be serviced by a set of mobile robots, each with a given movement speed and task execution speed. Our goal is to minimize the maximum execution time of robots.     

A new formulation and an exact approach for the many-to-many hub location-routing problem

An important problem of the freight industry is the parcel delivery network design, where several facilities are responsible for assembling flows from several origins, re-routing them to other facilities where the flows are disassembled and the packages delivered to their final destinations. In order to provide this service, local tours are established for the vehicles assigned to each of the processing facilities, which are then responsible for the pickup and delivery tasks. This application gives rise to the many-to-many hub location routing problem that is the combination of two well known problems: the vehicle routing problem and the single assignment hub location problem. In this work, a new formulation for this important problem is proposed and solved by a specially tailored Benders decomposition algorithm. The proposed method is robust enough to solve instances up to 100 nodes having 4 million integer variables.