A threshold accepting approach to the open vehicle routing problem

Christos D. Tarantilis; George Ioannou; Chris T. Kiranoudis[1]; Gregory P. Prastacos

  • [1] Department of Process Analysis and Plant Design, National Technical University of Athens, Greece.

RAIRO - Operations Research - Recherche Opérationnelle (2004)

  • Volume: 38, Issue: 4, page 345-360
  • ISSN: 0399-0559

Abstract

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In this paper we consider the operational planning problem of physical distribution via a fleet of hired vehicles, for which the travelling cost is solely a function of the sequence of locations visited within all open delivery routes, while vehicle fixed cost is inexistent. The problem is a special class of vehicle routing and is encountered in the literature as the Open Vehicle Routing Problem (OVRP), since vehicles are not required to return to the depot. The goal is to distribute in an optimal way finished goods from a central facility to geographically dispersed customers, which pose daily demand for items produced in the facility and act as sales points for consumers. To solve the problem, we employ an annealing-based method that utilizes a backtracking policy of the threshold value when no acceptances of feasible solutions occur during the search process. Computational results on a set of benchmark problems show that the proposed method consistently outperforms previous algorithms for solving the OVRP. The approach can serve as the means for effective fleet planning in real-life problems.

How to cite

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Tarantilis, Christos D., et al. "A threshold accepting approach to the open vehicle routing problem." RAIRO - Operations Research - Recherche Opérationnelle 38.4 (2004): 345-360. <http://eudml.org/doc/245250>.

@article{Tarantilis2004,
abstract = {In this paper we consider the operational planning problem of physical distribution via a fleet of hired vehicles, for which the travelling cost is solely a function of the sequence of locations visited within all open delivery routes, while vehicle fixed cost is inexistent. The problem is a special class of vehicle routing and is encountered in the literature as the Open Vehicle Routing Problem (OVRP), since vehicles are not required to return to the depot. The goal is to distribute in an optimal way finished goods from a central facility to geographically dispersed customers, which pose daily demand for items produced in the facility and act as sales points for consumers. To solve the problem, we employ an annealing-based method that utilizes a backtracking policy of the threshold value when no acceptances of feasible solutions occur during the search process. Computational results on a set of benchmark problems show that the proposed method consistently outperforms previous algorithms for solving the OVRP. The approach can serve as the means for effective fleet planning in real-life problems.},
affiliation = {Department of Process Analysis and Plant Design, National Technical University of Athens, Greece.},
author = {Tarantilis, Christos D., Ioannou, George, Kiranoudis, Chris T., Prastacos, Gregory P.},
journal = {RAIRO - Operations Research - Recherche Opérationnelle},
keywords = {distribution; vehicle routing; logistics; Distribution},
language = {eng},
number = {4},
pages = {345-360},
publisher = {EDP-Sciences},
title = {A threshold accepting approach to the open vehicle routing problem},
url = {http://eudml.org/doc/245250},
volume = {38},
year = {2004},
}

TY - JOUR
AU - Tarantilis, Christos D.
AU - Ioannou, George
AU - Kiranoudis, Chris T.
AU - Prastacos, Gregory P.
TI - A threshold accepting approach to the open vehicle routing problem
JO - RAIRO - Operations Research - Recherche Opérationnelle
PY - 2004
PB - EDP-Sciences
VL - 38
IS - 4
SP - 345
EP - 360
AB - In this paper we consider the operational planning problem of physical distribution via a fleet of hired vehicles, for which the travelling cost is solely a function of the sequence of locations visited within all open delivery routes, while vehicle fixed cost is inexistent. The problem is a special class of vehicle routing and is encountered in the literature as the Open Vehicle Routing Problem (OVRP), since vehicles are not required to return to the depot. The goal is to distribute in an optimal way finished goods from a central facility to geographically dispersed customers, which pose daily demand for items produced in the facility and act as sales points for consumers. To solve the problem, we employ an annealing-based method that utilizes a backtracking policy of the threshold value when no acceptances of feasible solutions occur during the search process. Computational results on a set of benchmark problems show that the proposed method consistently outperforms previous algorithms for solving the OVRP. The approach can serve as the means for effective fleet planning in real-life problems.
LA - eng
KW - distribution; vehicle routing; logistics; Distribution
UR - http://eudml.org/doc/245250
ER -

References

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