On green routing and scheduling problem

The vehicle routing and scheduling problem has been studied with much interest within the last four decades. In this paper, some of the existing literature dealing with routing and scheduling problems with environmental issues is reviewed, and a description is provided of the problems that have been investigated and how they are treated using combinatorial optimization tools

An Optimization Approach to the Ordering Phase of an Attended Home Delivery Service

Attended Home Delivery (AHD) systems are used whenever a supplying company offers online shopping services that require that customers must be present when their deliveries arrive. Therefore, the supplying company and the customer must both agree on a time window, which ideally is rather short, during which delivery is guaranteed. Typically, a capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows forms the underlying optimization problem of the AHD system. In this work, we consider an AHD system that runs the online grocery shopping service of an international grocery retailer. The ordering phase, during which customers place their orders through the web service, is the computationally most challenging part of the AHD system. The delivery schedule must be built dynamically as new orders are placed. We propose a solution approach that allows to (non-stochastically) determine which delivery time windows can be offered to potential customers. We split the computations of the ordering phase into four key steps. For performing these basic steps we suggest both a heuristic approach and a hybrid approach employing mixed-integer linear programs. In an experimental evaluation we demonstrate the efficiency of our approaches

A concise guide to existing and emerging vehicle routing problem variants

Vehicle routing problems have been the focus of extensive research over the past sixty years, driven by their economic importance and their theoretical interest. The diversity of applications has motivated the study of a myriad of problem variants with different attributes. In this article, we provide a concise overview of existing and emerging problem variants. Models are typically refined along three lines: considering more relevant objectives and performance metrics, integrating vehicle routing evaluations with other tactical decisions, and capturing fine-grained yet essential aspects of modern supply chains. We organize the main problem attributes within this structured framework. We discuss recent research directions and pinpoint current shortcomings, recent successes, and emerging challenges

A concise guide to existing and emerging vehicle routing problem variants

Vehicle routing problems have been the focus of extensive research over the past sixty years, driven by their economic importance and their theoretical interest. The diversity of applications has motivated the study of a myriad of problem variants with different attributes. In this article, we provide a concise overview of existing and emerging problem variants. Models are typically refined along three lines: considering more relevant objectives and performance metrics, integrating vehicle routing evaluations with other tactical decisions, and capturing fine-grained yet essential aspects of modern supply chains. We organize the main problem attributes within this structured framework. We discuss recent research directions and pinpoint current shortcomings, recent successes, and emerging challenges.</p