Multi-Depots Vehicle Routing Problem with Simultaneous Delivery and Pickup and Inventory Restrictions: Formulation and Resolution

Abstract

Reverse logistics can be defined as a set of practices and processes for managing returns from the consumer to the manufacturer, simultaneously with direct flow management. In this context, we have chosen to study an important variant of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) which is the Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem with Simultaneous Delivery and Pickup and Inventory Restrictions (MD-VRPSDP-IR). This problem involves designing routes from multiple depots that simultaneously satisfy delivery and pickup requests from a set of customers, while taking into account depot stock levels. This study proposes a hybrid Genetic Algorithm which incorporates three different procedures, including a newly developed one called the K-Nearest Depot heuristic, to assign customers to depots and also the Sweep algorithm for routes construction, and the Farthest Insertion heuristic to improve solutions. Computational results show that our methods outperform the previous ones for MD-VRPSDP.

Multi-Depot Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem by Using Stable Marriage and K-Means Clustering to Minimize Number of Unserved Customers and Total Travel Distance

“…The second model is partition-based algorithmnearest neighbor (PBA-NN) technique [8]. The third model is a hybrid genetic algorithm and nearest neighbor (GA-NN) [5]. The fourth model is simulated annealing (SA) [4].…”

“…Like the HEA model [9], this third model also combine the metaheuristic approach and the deterministic approach. This third model adopted the cluster-first route-second approach [5]. The customers are allocated to the nearest available depot / truck [5].…”

“…Khaoula, Youssef, and Ghizlane [5] also developed an MDVRP model for pickup and delivery scenarios. In it, the vehicles were identical.…”

“…Eq. (5) shows that the link between centroid and customer is 1 only if its location is the nearest. In other words, the customer is linked to the centroid that is nearest to it.…”

“…During its journey, the vehicle must visit all nodes where each node must be visited once [3]. The main goal is minimizing the total travel distance from its departure to its return [4,5].…”