Title: A GIS-based methodology for solving the capacitated vehicle routing problem with time windows: a real-life scenario

Authors: Mehmet Savsar; Aaya Aboelfotoh; Dalal Embaireeg

Addresses: College of Engineering and Petroleum, Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait ' College of Engineering and Petroleum, Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait ' College of Engineering and Petroleum, Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait

Abstract: Most companies, which need to distribute their production daily, solely rely on human judgment in scheduling customer orders by assigning a delivery vehicle and selecting the routes for those vehicles. With increasing demand, this approach quickly becomes error prone. In this study, we present analysis of a distribution system and propose a systematic approach to improve distribution of tasks using geographic information system (GIS). Specifically, ArcMap's network analyst tool is used in order to minimise total transportation costs and ensure workload balance. We incorporate dynamic traffic conditions, time windows, vehicle capacity and driver working hours into our model to present more realistic results. We compare the total transportation costs due to manual assignments with the costs obtained using our approach, in addition to proving the tool's validity for problems of a larger scale. Analysis is applied to a specific food catering company in order to illustrate the procedure in detail.

Keywords: distribution; vehicle routing; time windows; transportation; geographic information system; GIS; network analyst; traffic; capacitated; food industry; delivery; management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMS.2019.098827

International Journal of Applied Management Science, 2019 Vol.11 No.2, pp.124 - 152

Accepted: 05 Jun 2018
Published online: 03 Apr 2019 *

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