Heuristic solution methods for multi-attribute vehicle routing problems

Le Problème de Tournées de Véhicules (PTV) est une clé importante pour gérér efficacement des systèmes logistiques, ce qui peut entraîner une amélioration du niveau de satisfaction de la clientèle. Ceci est fait en servant plus de clients dans un temps plus court. En terme général, il implique la planification des tournées d'une flotte de véhicules de capacité donnée basée à un ou plusieurs dépôts. Le but est de livrer ou collecter une certain quantité de marchandises à un ensemble des clients géographiquement dispersés, tout en respectant les contraintes de capacité des véhicules. Le PTV, comme classe de problèmes d'optimisation discrète et de grande complexité, a été étudié par de nombreux au cours des dernières décennies. Étant donné son importance pratique, des chercheurs dans les domaines de l'informatique, de la recherche opérationnelle et du génie industrielle ont mis au point des algorithmes très efficaces, de nature exacte ou heuristique, pour faire face aux différents types du PTV. Toutefois, les approches proposées pour le PTV ont souvent été accusées d'être trop concentrées sur des versions simplistes des problèmes de tournées de véhicules rencontrés dans des applications réelles. Par conséquent, les chercheurs sont récemment tournés vers des variantes du PTV qui auparavant étaient considérées trop difficiles à résoudre. Ces variantes incluent les attributs et les contraintes complexes observés dans les cas réels et fournissent des solutions qui sont exécutables dans la pratique. Ces extensions du PTV s'appellent Problème de Tournées de Véhicules Multi-Attributs (PTVMA). Le but principal de cette thèse est d'étudier les différents aspects pratiques de trois types de problèmes de tournées de véhicules multi-attributs qui seront modélisés dans celle-ci. En plus, puisque pour le PTV, comme pour la plupart des problèmes NP-complets, il est difficile de résoudre des instances de grande taille de façon optimale et dans un temps d'exécution raisonnable, nous nous tournons vers des méthodes approcheés à base d’heuristiques.The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is an important key to efficient logistics system management, which can result in higher level of customer satisfaction because more customers can be served in a shorter time. In broad terms, it deals with designing optimal delivery or collection routes from one or several depot(s) to a number of geographically scattered customers subject to side constraints. The VRP is a discrete optimization and computationally hard problem and has been extensively studied by researchers and practitioners during the past decades. Being complex problems with numerous and relevant potential applications, researchers from the fields of computer science, operations research and industrial engineering have developed very efficient algorithms, both of exact and heuristic nature, to deal with different types of VRPs. However, VRP research has often been criticized for being too focused on oversimplified versions of the routing problems encountered in real-life applications. Consequently, researchers have recently turned to variants of the VRP which before were considered too difficult to solve. These variants include those attributes and constraints observed in real-life planning and lead to solutions that are executable in practice. These extended problems are called Multi-Attribute Vehicle Routing Problems (MAVRPs). The main purpose of this thesis is to study different practical aspects of three multi-attribute vehicle routing problems which will be modeled in it. Besides that, since the VRP has been proved to be NP-hard in the strong sense such that it is impossible to optimally solve the large-sized problems in a reasonable computational time by means of traditional optimization approaches, novel heuristics will be designed to efficiently tackle the created models

The location routing problem with facility sizing decisions

The location routing problem (LRP) integrates operational decisions on vehicle routing operations with strategic decisions on the location of the facilities or depots from which the distribution will take place. In other words, it combines the well-known vehicle routing problem (VRP) with the facility location problem (FLP). Hence, the LRP is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem, which justifies the use of metaheuristic approaches whenever large-scale instances need to be solved. In this paper, we explore a realistic version of the LRP in which facilities of different capacities are considered, i.e., the manager has to consider not only the location but also the size of the facilities to open. In order to tackle this optimization problem, three mixed-integer linear formulations are proposed and compared. As expected, they have been proved to be cost- and time- inefficient. Hence, a biased-randomized iterated local search algorithm is proposed. Classical instances for the LRP with homogeneous facilities are naturally extended to test the performance of our approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Dynamic Vehicle Scheduling for Working Service Network with Dual Demands

This study aims to develop some models to aid in making decisions on the combined fleet size and vehicle assignment in working service network where the demands include two types (minimum demands and maximum demands), and vehicles themselves can act like a facility to provide services when they are stationary at one location. This type of problem is named as the dynamic working vehicle scheduling with dual demands (DWVS-DD) and formulated as a mixed integer programming (MIP). Instead of a large integer program, the problem is decomposed into small local problems that are guided by preset control parameters. The approach for preset control parameters is given. By introducing them into the MIP formulation, the model is reformulated as a piecewise form. Further, a piecewise method by updating preset control parameters is proposed for solving the reformulated model. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method produces better solution within reasonable computing time

A Survey on Environmentally Friendly Vehicle Routing Problem and a Proposal of Its Classification

The growth of environmental awareness and more robust enforcement of numerous regulations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have directed efforts towards addressing current environmental challenges. Considering the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), one of the effective strategies to control greenhouse gas emissions is to convert the fossil fuel-powered fleet into Environmentally Friendly Vehicles (EFVs). Given the multitude of constraints and assumptions defined for different types of VRPs, as well as assumptions and operational constraints specific to each type of EFV, many variants of environmentally friendly VRPs (EF-VRP) have been introduced. In this paper, studies conducted on the subject of EF-VRP are reviewed, considering all the road transport EFV types and problem variants, and classifying and discussing with a single holistic vision. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it determines a classification of EF-VRP studies based on different types of EFVs, i.e., Alternative-Fuel Vehicles (AFVs), Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Hybrid Vehicles (HVs). Second, it presents a comprehensive survey by considering each variant of the classification, technical constraints and solution methods arising in the literature. The results of this paper show that studies on EF-VRP are relatively novel and there is still room for large improvements in several areas. So, to determine future insights, for each classification of EF-VRP studies, the paper provides the literature gaps and future research needs

Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problem for a multi-period, multi-perishable product system with time window: A Case study

[EN] The well-known Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is to find proper sequence of routes in order to minimize transportation costs. In this paper, a mixed-integer programming model is presented for a food distributer company and the model outputs are to determine the optimal routes and amount of pickup and delivery. In the objective function, the costs of transportation, holding, tardiness and earliness are considered simultaneously. The proposed model with respect to real conditions is multi-period and has two different time periods: one for dispatching vehicles to customers and suppliers and the other for receiving customers’ orders. Time window and split pickup and delivery are considered for perishable products. The proposed model is nonlinear and will be linearized using exact techniques. At the end, model is solved using GAMS and the sensitivity analysis is performed. The results indicate that the trend of changes in holding and transportation costs in compared to tardiness and earliness costs are closed together and are not so sensitive to demand changes.Rashidi Komijan, A.; Delavari, D. (2017). Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problem for a multi-period, multi-perishable product system with time window: A Case study. International Journal of Production Management and Engineering. 5(2):45-53. doi:10.4995/ijpme.2017.5960SWORD455352DENG, A., MAO, C., & ZHOU, Y. (2009). Optimizing Research of an Improved Simulated Annealing Algorithm to Soft Time Windows Vehicle Routing Problem with Pick-up and Delivery. Systems Engineering - Theory & Practice, 29(5), 186-192. doi:10.1016/s1874-8651(10)60049-xAndersson, H., Hoff, A., Christiansen, M., Hasle, G., & Løkketangen, A. (2010). Industrial aspects and literature survey: Combined inventory management and routing. Computers & Operations Research, 37(9), 1515-1536. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2009.11.009Baldacci, R., Mingozzi, A., & Roberti, R. (2012). Recent exact algorithms for solving the vehicle routing problem under capacity and time window constraints. European Journal of Operational Research, 218(1), 1-6. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2011.07.037Belfiore, P., & Yoshizaki, H. T. Y. (2013). Heuristic methods for the fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows and split deliveries. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 64(2), 589-601. doi:10.1016/j.cie.2012.11.007Cacchiani, V., Hemmelmayr, V.C., Tricoire, F., (2012). A set-covering based heuristic algorithm for the periodic vehicle routing problem. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 163(1), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dam.2012.08.032Cattaruzza, D., Absi, N., Feillet, D., & Vidal, T. (2014). A memetic algorithm for the Multi Trip Vehicle Routing Problem. European Journal of Operational Research, 236(3), 833-848. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2013.06.012Çetinkaya, C., Karaoglan, I., & Gökçen, H. (2013). Two-stage vehicle routing problem with arc time windows: A mixed integer programming formulation and a heuristic approach. European Journal of Operational Research, 230(3), 539-550. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2013.05.001Eksioglu, B., Vural, A. V., & Reisman, A. (2009). The vehicle routing problem: A taxonomic review. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 57(4), 1472-1483. doi:10.1016/j.cie.2009.05.009Hasani-Goodarzi, A., & Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R. (2012). Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem for Multi-Product Cross- Docking with Split Deliveries and Pickups. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 62, 1360-1365. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.232Rahimi-Vahed, A., Gabriel Crainic, T., Gendreau, M., & Rei, W. (2015). Fleet-sizing for multi-depot and periodic vehicle routing problems using a modular heuristic algorithm. Computers & Operations Research, 53, 9-23. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2014.07.004Shahin Moghadam, S., Fatemi Ghomi, S. M. T., & Karimi, B. (2014). Vehicle routing scheduling problem with cross docking and split deliveries. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 69, 98-107. doi:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2014.06.015Silva, M. M., Subramanian, A., & Ochi, L. S. (2015). An iterated local search heuristic for the split delivery vehicle routing problem. Computers & Operations Research, 53, 234-249. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2014.08.005Taş, D., Jabali, O., & Van Woensel, T. (2014). A Vehicle Routing Problem with Flexible Time Windows. Computers & Operations Research, 52, 39-54. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2014.07.005Yu, B., & Yang, Z. Z. (2011). An ant colony optimization model: The period vehicle routing problem with time windows. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 47(2), 166-181. doi:10.1016/j.tre.2010.09.010Zhang, S., Lee, C. K. M., Choy, K. L., Ho, W., & Ip, W. H. (2014). Design and development of a hybrid artificial bee colony algorithm for the environmental vehicle routing problem. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 31, 85-99. doi:10.1016/j.trd.2014.05.01

A variable neighborhood search algorithm with reinforcement learning for a real-life periodic vehicle routing problem with time windows and open routes

Based on a real-life container transport problem, a model of Open Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (OPVRPTW) is proposed in this paper. In a wide planning horizon, which is divided into a number of shifts, a fixed number of trucks are scheduled to complete container transportation tasks between terminals subject to time constraints. In this problem, the routes traveled by trucks are open, as returning to the starting depot is not required in every single shift but every two shifts.Our study shows that it is unrealistic to address this large scale and nonlinearly constrained problem with exact search methods. A Reinforcement Learning Based Variable Neighbourhood Search algorithm (VNSRLS) is developed for OPVRPTW. The initial solution is constructed with an urgency level-based insertion heuristic, while different insertion selection strategies are compared. In the local search phase of VNS-RLS, reinforcement learning is used to guide the search, adjusting the probabilities of operators being invoked adaptively according to the change of generated solutions’ feasibility and quality. In addition, the impact of sampling neighbourhood space in single solution-based algorithms is also investigated. Three indicators are designed in the proposed Sampling module to set the starting configuration of local search.Experiment results on different sizes of real and artificial benchmark instances show that, the proposed Sampling scheme and feasibility indicator decrease the infeasible rate during the search. However, Sampling’s contribution to solution quality improvement is not significant in this single solution-based algorithm. Comparing to the exact search and two state-of-the-art algorithms, VNS-RLS produces promising result

Dynamic optimisation of preventative and corrective maintenance schedules for a large scale urban drainage system

Gully pots or storm drains are located at the side of roads to provide drainage for surface water. We consider gully pot maintenance as a risk-driven maintenance problem. We explore policies for preventative and corrective maintenance actions, and build optimised routes for maintenance vehicles. Our solutions take the risk impact of gully pot failure and its failure behaviour into account, in the presence of factors such as location, season and current status. The aim is to determine a maintenance policy that can automatically adjust its scheduling strategy in line with changes in the local environment, to minimise the surface flooding risk due to clogged gully pots. We introduce a rolling planning strategy, solved by a hyper-heuristic method. Results show the behaviour and strength of the automated adjustment in a range of real-world scenarios