Title: A heuristic approach for Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem: a case study

Authors: Amir Ahmad Seifi, Nima Safaei, Pooria Assadi

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Ave., 11365-9414 Tehran, Iran. ' Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 5 King's College Road, M5S 3G8 Toronto, Canada. ' Segal Graduate School of Business, Simon Fraser University, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 1W6, Canada

Abstract: A heuristic approach is proposed to solve a real Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem (PVRP) that aims at extending the market share with the minimum transportation cost. In PVRP, vehicles are assigned to routes in different workdays to satisfy the frequency of visiting customers. The objective is to determine the scheduling and routing policies of the vehicles to minimise the fleet size and to maximise the selling benefits. The vehicle capacity and the trip time are the main constraints. The proposed approach is verified by real data and obtained results imply a significant improvement as compared to the current status.

Keywords: periodic vehicle routing; distribution management; heuristics; greedy strategies; market share; transportation costs; routes; workdays; visit frequencies; visiting customers; scheduling policies; vehicle fleets; fleet size; selling benefits; benefit maximisation; vehicle capacities; trip times; constraints; Tehran; Iran; Telavang; food production; food distribution; logistics systems; logistics management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2011.039599

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2011 Vol.8 No.4, pp.425 - 443

Published online: 06 May 2015 *

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