Integrating vehicle routing and resource allocation in a pharmaceutical network

A problem integrating resource allocation and transportation is consideredhere as an extension of the well-knownvehicle routing problem. It was proposed bya pharmaceutical company, for which items (blood samples) have to be typicallytransported from doctor offices to laboratories (where the items are analyzed bymachines) by a fleet of identical vehicles. The following specific features are con-sidered: multiple pickups, multiple depots, multiple products, transfers, due dates,service level, and dropout level. The goal consists in minimizing the employed re-source (i.e., machines, vehicles) and the traveling times of the vehicles. We proposean iterative solution method based on the following sequence of steps: build sectors,build routes, assign vehicles to routes, try to find a solution with fewer machines.Numerical experiments are reported and discussed from a managerial standpoin

Dynamic Tabu Search for Enhancing the Productivity of a Bottle Production Line

Many industries use linear production lines, with buffers between eachpair of machines for absorbing small breakdowns or other irregularities. Thesebuffers have different thresholds for triggering the possible speeds of the machines.The goal of this study is to tune the values of these thresholds in order to enhancethe productivity of the line. A simulation-optimization approach is proposed andapplied to a case study involving a soft-drink plastic bottle company. We show thatthe production can be increased by a few pallets per day. Suchresults are appealingfor the company, as updating these thresholds does not implyany cost