scholarly journals Solving Practical Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows Using Metaheuristic Algorithms

1970 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filip Taner ◽  
Ante Galić ◽  
Tonči Carić

This paper addresses the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) and shows that implementing algorithms for solving various instances of VRPs can significantly reduce transportation costs that occur during the delivery process. Two metaheuristic algorithms were developed for solving VRPTW: Simulated Annealing and Iterated Local Search. Both algorithms generate initial feasible solution using constructive heuristics and use operators and various strategies for an iterative improvement. The algorithms were tested on Solomon’s benchmark problems and real world vehicle routing problems with time windows. In total, 44 real world problems were optimized in the case study using described algorithms. Obtained results showed that the same distribution task can be accomplished with savings up to 40% in the total travelled distance and that manually constructed routes are very ineffective.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shifeng Chen ◽  
Rong Chen ◽  
Jian Gao

The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a classical combinatorial optimization problem. It is usually modelled in a static fashion; however, in practice, new requests by customers arrive after the initial workday plan is in progress. In this case, routes must be replanned dynamically. This paper investigates the Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (DVRPTW) in which customers’ requests either can be known at the beginning of working day or occur dynamically over time. We propose a hybrid heuristic algorithm that combines the harmony search (HS) algorithm and the Variable Neighbourhood Descent (VND) algorithm. It uses the HS to provide global exploration capabilities and uses the VND for its local search capability. In order to prevent premature convergence of the solution, we evaluate the population diversity by using entropy. Computational results on the Lackner benchmark problems show that the proposed algorithm is competitive with the best existing algorithms from the literature.


2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 934-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Ostertag ◽  
K F Doerner ◽  
R F Hartl ◽  
E D Taillard ◽  
P Waelti

1998 ◽  
Vol 1617 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
How-Ming Shieh ◽  
Ming-Der May

The problem of the on-line version of the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) differs from the traditional off-line problem in the dynamical arrival of requests and the execution of the partial tour during the run time. The study develops an on-line optimization-based heuristic that combined the concepts of the “on-line algorithm,” “anytime algorithm,” and local search heuristics to solve the on-line version of VRPTW. The solution heuristic is evaluated with modified Solomon’s problems. By comparing with these benchmark problems, the different results between on-line and off-line algorithms are indicated.


Author(s):  
Farhana Johar ◽  
Chris Potts ◽  
Julia Bennell

This paper addresses the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) with time constraints which been solved by several heuristic algorithms. The problem starting at the depot where the customer orders which associated with due date determined by customer, are released with different point of time. Ideally, to avoid any lateness in delivery process, the orders need to be delivered as soon as it released and available at the depot. However, this may increase the traveling cost because one vehicle needs to go and come back to depot for the other deliveries which this can be saved by batching the deliveries. Therefore, the study will focus on minimizing the tradeoff between traveling and tardiness costs.  Literatures show that implementing the heuristic algorithms for solving various instances of VRPs manage to minimize the distribution cost within the reasonable computing times. An initial feasible solution was generated using a constructive heuristic. The solution then was improved by several metaheuristic algorithms were developed for solving the problem studied; Variable Neighborhood Search, Large Neighborhood Search and Tabu Search. To cater with the problem studied, a modification to the benchmark problems of Solomon has been done. The performance of the algorithms can be seen through the comparison of the solution obtained.  The results showed that there is a significant saving in producing the least cost solution and manually constructed routes are very ineffective.


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