The Robust Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window Assignments

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-413
Author(s):  
Maaike Hoogeboom ◽  
Yossiri Adulyasak ◽  
Wout Dullaert ◽  
Patrick Jaillet

In practice, there are several applications in which logistics service providers determine the service time windows at the customers, for example, in parcel delivery, retail, and repair services. These companies face uncertain travel times and service times that have to be taken into account when determining the time windows and routes prior to departure. The objective of the proposed robust vehicle routing problem with time window assignments (RVRP-TWA) is to simultaneously determine routes and time window assignments such that the expected travel time and the risk of violating the time windows are minimized. We assume that the travel time probability distributions are not completely known but that some statistics, such as the mean, minimum, and maximum, can be estimated. We extend the robust framework based on the requirements’ violation index, which was originally developed for the case where the specific requirements (time windows) are given as inputs, to the case where they are also part of the decisions. The subproblem of finding the optimal time window assignment for the customers in a given route is shown to be convex, and the subgradients can be derived. The RVRP-TWA is solved by iteratively generating subgradient cuts from the subproblem that are added in a branch-and-cut fashion. Experiments address the performance of the proposed solution approach and examine the trade-off between expected travel time and risk of violating the time windows.

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (50) ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Jorge Oyola

A full multiobjective approach is employed in this paper to deal with a stochastic multiobjective capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). In this version of the problem, the demand is considered to be deterministic, but the travel times are assumed to be stochastic. A soft time window is tied to every customer and there is a penalty for starting the service outside the time window. Two objectives are minimized, the total length and the time window penalty. The suggested solution method includes a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA) together with a variable neighborhood search (VNS) heuristic. It was tested on instances from the literature and compared to a previous solution approach. The suggested method is able to find solutions that dominate some of the previously best known stochastic multiobjective CVRP solutions.


Author(s):  
Hongguang Wu ◽  
Yuelin Gao ◽  
Wanting Wang ◽  
Ziyu Zhang

AbstractIn this paper, we propose a vehicle routing problem with time windows (TWVRP). In this problem, we consider a hard time constraint that the fleet can only serve customers within a specific time window. To solve this problem, a hybrid ant colony (HACO) algorithm is proposed based on ant colony algorithm and mutation operation. The HACO algorithm proposed has three innovations: the first is to update pheromones with a new method; the second is the introduction of adaptive parameters; and the third is to add the mutation operation. A famous Solomon instance is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Experimental results show that HACO algorithm is effective against solving the problem of vehicle routing with time windows. Besides, the proposed algorithm also has practical implications for vehicle routing problem and the results show that it is applicable and effective in practical problems.


OR Spectrum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Tilk ◽  
Katharina Olkis ◽  
Stefan Irnich

AbstractThe ongoing rise in e-commerce comes along with an increasing number of first-time delivery failures due to the absence of the customer at the delivery location. Failed deliveries result in rework which in turn has a large impact on the carriers’ delivery cost. In the classical vehicle routing problem (VRP) with time windows, each customer request has only one location and one time window describing where and when shipments need to be delivered. In contrast, we introduce and analyze the vehicle routing problem with delivery options (VRPDO), in which some requests can be shipped to alternative locations with possibly different time windows. Furthermore, customers may prefer some delivery options. The carrier must then select, for each request, one delivery option such that the carriers’ overall cost is minimized and a given service level regarding customer preferences is achieved. Moreover, when delivery options share a common location, e.g., a locker, capacities must be respected when assigning shipments. To solve the VRPDO exactly, we present a new branch-price-and-cut algorithm. The associated pricing subproblem is a shortest-path problem with resource constraints that we solve with a bidirectional labeling algorithm on an auxiliary network. We focus on the comparison of two alternative modeling approaches for the auxiliary network and present optimal solutions for instances with up to 100 delivery options. Moreover, we provide 17 new optimal solutions for the benchmark set for the VRP with roaming delivery locations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Dedi Sa'dudin Taptajani

Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) merupakan suatu permasalahan yang berkaitan dengan bagaimana menentukan rute yang dianggap optimal dan melibatkan lebih dari satu alat angkut demi memperhatikan beberapa kendala dalam melayani sejumlah tempat layanan sesuai dengan permintaan. Salah satu varian dari VRP adalah capacitated vehicle routing problem with time window (CVRPTW) varian ini menambahkan kendala kapasitas alat angkut sebagai salah satu pertimbangan didalam mengangkut ke masing masing tujuan dan kemudian memberikan jendela waktu didalam proses pengangkutannya. Tujuan dari penulisan ini adalah menjelaskan pembentukan model dari CVRPTW untuk permasalahan rute pengangkutan sampah dari tiap rumah Sampai Ke Tempat Pembuangan Akhir, dengan pertimbangan waktu yang tersedia dan kapasitas angkut alat angkut yang tersedia, Sedangkan Penyelesaiannya yaitu dengan menggunakan pendekatan algoritma sweep. Algoritma Ini merupakan algoritma yang terdiri dari dua tahap, pada tahapan pertama yaitu clustering dari masing masing rumah dan tahap selanjurtnya yaitu membentuk rute pengiriman untuk masing-masing cluster dengan metode Nearest Neighbour, kemudian dilanjutkan dengan menentukan kapasitas alat angkut terhadap waktu yang diperlukan untuk menentukan kapan sampah ini akan di angkut ke tempat pembuangan akhir. Studi ini sangat penting dilakukan dalam rangka menerapkan dasar untuk memahami kemungkinan meningkatkan tingkat layanan pada proses pengangkutan sampah di tingkat desa.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 1043-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Munari ◽  
Alfredo Moreno ◽  
Jonathan De La Vega ◽  
Douglas Alem ◽  
Jacek Gondzio ◽  
...  

We address the robust vehicle routing problem with time windows (RVRPTW) under customer demand and travel time uncertainties. As presented thus far in the literature, robust counterparts of standard formulations have challenged general-purpose optimization solvers and specialized branch-and-cut methods. Hence, optimal solutions have been reported for small-scale instances only. Additionally, although the most successful methods for solving many variants of vehicle routing problems are based on the column generation technique, the RVRPTW has never been addressed by this type of method. In this paper, we introduce a novel robust counterpart model based on the well-known budgeted uncertainty set, which has advantageous features in comparison with other formulations and presents better overall performance when solved by commercial solvers. This model results from incorporating dynamic programming recursive equations into a standard deterministic formulation and does not require the classical dualization scheme typically used in robust optimization. In addition, we propose a branch-price-and-cut method based on a set partitioning formulation of the problem, which relies on a robust resource-constrained elementary shortest path problem to generate routes that are robust regarding both vehicle capacity and customer time windows. Computational experiments using Solomon’s instances show that the proposed approach is effective and able to obtain robust solutions within a reasonable running time. The results of an extensive Monte Carlo simulation indicate the relevance of obtaining robust routes for a more reliable decision-making process in real-life settings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lahcene Guezouli ◽  
Mohamed Bensakhria ◽  
Samir Abdelhamid

In this article, the authors propose a decision support system which aims to optimize the classical Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem by considering the existence of multiple available depots and a time window which must not be violated, that they call the Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window (MDVRPTW), and with respecting a set of criteria including: schedules requests from clients, the capacity of vehicles. The authors solve this problem by proposing a recently published technique based on soccer concepts, called Golden Ball (GB), with different solution representation from the original one, this technique was designed to solve combinatorial optimization problems, and by embedding a clustering algorithm. Computational results have shown that the approach produces acceptable quality solutions compared to the best previous results in similar problem in terms of generated solutions and processing time. Experimental results prove that the proposed Golden Ball algorithm is efficient and effective to solve the MDVRPTW problem.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 3945-3951
Author(s):  
Dr P.K Chenniappan ◽  
Mrs.S.Aruna Devi

The vehicle routing problem is to determine K vehicle routes, where a route is a tour that begins at the depot, traverses a subset of the customers in a specified sequence and returns to the depot. Each customer must be assigned to exactly one of the K vehicle routes and total size of deliveries for customers assigned to each vehicle must not exceed the vehicle capacity. The routes should be chosen to minimize total travel cost. Thispapergivesasolutiontofindanoptimumrouteforvehicle routingproblem using Hybrid Encoding GeneticAlgorithm (HEGA)technique tested on c++ programming.The objective is to find routes for the vehicles to service all the customers at a minimal cost and time without violating the capacity, travel time constraints and time window constraints


Author(s):  
Ruslan Sadykov ◽  
Eduardo Uchoa ◽  
Artur Pessoa

We consider the shortest path problem with resource constraints arising as a subproblem in state-of-the-art branch-cut-and-price algorithms for vehicle routing problems. We propose a variant of the bidirectional label-correcting algorithm in which the labels are stored and extended according to the so-called bucket graph. This organization of labels helps to significantly decrease the number of dominance checks and the running time of the algorithm. We also show how the forward/backward route symmetry can be exploited and how to eliminate arcs from the bucket graph using reduced costs. The proposed algorithm can be especially beneficial for vehicle routing instances with large vehicle capacity and/or with time window constraints. Computational experiments were performed on instances from the distance-constrained vehicle routing problem, including multidepot and site-dependent variants, on the vehicle routing problem with time windows, and on the “nightmare” instances of the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem. Significant improvements over the best algorithms in the literature were achieved, and many instances could be solved for the first time.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document