An Integrated Heuristic Approach for the Long-Distance Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing Problem

Abstract

In this chapter, a single depot, long-distance heterogeneous vehicle routing problem is studied with fixed costs and vehicle-dependent routing costs (LD-HVRPFD). The LD-HVRPFD considers retailers far away from the single depot and hence route durations could exceed a day. Thus, the number of available vehicles changes through the course of the multi-day planning horizon. Moreover, it is typical to encounter time-variant demand from retailers. To solve the LD-HVRPFD, the authors developed an iterative heuristic solution methodology integrated into a programming platform. The solution method consists of decomposing the VRP into sequential daily problems, model building using macro programming, obtaining a solution using a solver, determining the route-vehicle pairs and time durations, and dynamically updating the truck availability for the next day. The method is illustrated using real data from one of the biggest retail companies in the ready-to-wear sector of textile supply chains. The performance of the heuristic optimization procedure based on time and gap restriction criteria is presented.