Distance and Capacity Constrained Vehicle Routing in Distribution Networks: A New Branch-and-Cut-and-Price Heuristic

This paper presents a new local search heuristic for the Distance and Capacity Constrained Vehicle Routing Problem (DCVRP). The problem involves estimation of the smallest possible number of vehicles required to visit a number of nodes exactly once and identification of the vehicle routes that minimize the total distance of the tours. The suggested heuristic uses a branch-and-cut-and-price approach to the problem, which provides efficient and reliable solutions in complex networks with a large number of pickup and delivery nodes. The heuristic produces quality solutions by reducing the number of searchable node combinations, from N! to approximately 2N. The output consists of a set of complete routes that minimize total cost. Results on a problem of contagious waste collection prove that the suggested heuristic yields feasible solutions in short computing times. A quick DCVRP heuristic producing good solutions can be very helpful to policy makers whose aim is to promote rational and cost-efficient local development plans. It is also useful to logistics companies that provide pickup and delivery services and want to make effective use of their resources.

• Record URL:
  • http://jlst.fl.uni-mb.si/index.php/journal/article/view/48/38
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/18543332
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2013 Konstantinos Panou et al.
• Authors:
  • Panou, Konstantinos
  • Proios, George
  • Kapros, Seraphim
• Publication Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 11p
• Serial:
  • Logistics & Sustainable Transport
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: De Gruyter Poland
  • ISSN: 2232-4968
  • Serial URL: https://sciendo.com/journal/JLST
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Delivery service; Heuristic methods; Highway capacity; Optimization; Routing; Trip length; Vehicle fleets
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01501753
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 23 2013 7:52AM