Territory Design for Dynamic Multi-Period Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows
This research provides a practical solution for food distribution companies to efficiently manage dynamic multi-period vehicle routing and territory design, improving operational efficiency and customer service.
This paper addresses the Territory Design for Dynamic Multi-Period Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (TD-DMPVRPTW), a real-world problem faced by a food distribution company. The study proposes a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) and a heuristic to design contiguous and compact territories for dynamic customer deliveries over multiple periods. The proposed algorithm generates high-quality solutions in moderate running times, outperforming the food company's existing solutions.
This study introduces the Territory Design for Dynamic Multi-Period Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (TD-DMPVRPTW), motivated by a real-world application at a food company's distribution center. This problem deals with the design of contiguous and compact territories for delivery of orders from a depot to a set of customers, with time windows, over a multi-period planning horizon. Customers and their demands vary dynamically over time. The problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) and solved by a proposed heuristic. The heuristic solutions are compared with the proposed MILP solutions on a set of small artificial instances and the food company's solutions on a set of real-world instances. Computational results show that the proposed algorithm can yield high-quality solutions within moderate running times.