Title: Heuristic approach for balanced allocation problem in logistics: a comparative study

Authors: P. Sivakumar; K. Ganesh; S.P. Anbuudayasankar; M. Punniyamoorthy; S.C. Lenny Koh

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vickram College of Engineering, Enathi, Sivagangai, India ' Global Business Services – Global Delivery, IBM India Private Limited, Bandra (East), Mumbai 400 051, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli 620 015, Tamil Nadu, India ' Logistics and Supply Chain Management Research Group, Management School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Abstract: The core issue of this paper is efficient balancing of allocation of customers among multiple distribution centres. Allocation involves clustering of customers in such a way that the associated resources in terms of cost and time are minimal. Ready solution to this problem could be through non-deterministic polynomial (NP)-hard type model. But NP-hard type model is inherently time consuming in arriving at an optimal solution. This paper compares the meta-heuristic genetic algorithm with an improvised heuristic scheme developed from the 2-opt heuristic model. Possible solutions for efficient clustering of customers are then proposed.

Keywords: logistics; balanced allocation; GAs; genetic algorithms; 2-opt heuristic; improvement heuristics; allocation balancing; multiple distribution centres; customer clustering.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2012.047090

International Journal of Operational Research, 2012 Vol.14 No.3, pp.255 - 270

Published online: 11 Jan 2015 *

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