Madsen, Oli B.G.

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Downloaded from orbit.dtu.dk on: Dec 17, 2017Microcomputer-based Interactive Distribution PlanningMadsen, Oli B.G.Published in:IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, ProceedingsPublication date:1988Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink back to DTU OrbitCitation (APA):Madsen, O. B. G. (1988). Microcomputer-based Interactive Distribution Planning. In IEEE InternationalConference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Proceedings (Vol. Volume 1, pp. 341-344). IEEE.MICROCOMPUTER-BASED INTERACTIVE DISTRIBUTION PLANNING O l i  B.G. Madsen IMSOR THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH The Technical Univers i ty  of  Denmark DK-2800 Lyngby - Denmark The e f f e c t i v e  and e f f i c i e n t  manage- ment of  goods and s e r v i c e  has become increas-  i ng ly  important i n  both  t h e  p r i v a t e  and pub- l i c  sec to r .  The importance of t h i s  i s  empha- s i z e d  by t h e  costs a s soc ia t ed  and t h e  income e f f e c t .  Of t h e  t o t a l  phys i ca l  d i s t r i b u t i o n  management costs, t h e  costs a s soc ia t ed  wi th  rou t ing  and schedul ing  of veh ic l e s  c o n s t i t u t e  a very important p a r t .  Fuel c o s t s ,  d r i v e r  salaries and c a p i t a l  c o s t s  f o r  veh ic l e  main- teriance are inc reas ing  dramat ica l ly .  I t  is  the re fo re  of g r e a t  importance f o r  companies t o  reduce t h e i r  f l e e t  ope ra t ion  c o s t s .  W e  ob- serve t h a t  due t o  t h e  l a r g e  c o s t s ,  even small percentua l  improvements may be s i g n i f i c a n t .  Due t o  t h e  complexity of t h e  d i s t r i b u t i o n  problems inc luding  rou t ing  components, t h e  use of ope ra t ions  research-based methods and a lgor i thms is  needed. Even f o r  s m a l l  p?oblem s i z e s ,  t h e  computer-based methods o f f e r  ad- vantages over  t h e  manual methods no t  on ly  wi th  r e spec t  t o  cost reduct ion  or p r o f i t  i m -  provement, bu t  also i n  terms o f ,  e.g., b e t t e r  customer se rv ice .  The paper d i scusses  t h e  cons t ruc t ion  of  a dec i s ion  suppor t  system as- s i s t i n g  t h e  p lanner  i n  charge of rou t ing  and scheduling t a s k s  a t  t h e  ope ra t iona l  l e v e l .  The system is implemented on an IBM PC and schould,  t h e r e f o r e ,  be an  economically feas-  i b l e  so lu t ion  f o r  companies of  any size. The system w i l l  assist i n  so lv ing  both r o u t i n g  problems wi th  one depot ,  and one depot rout -  t i o n s .  The method is  f a s t  and may handle problems wi th  se&ral hundred customers, ,; ,Introduction In  a r ecen t  paper by Bocxe and Ti lanus  [ I ]  concerning s tandard  software f o r  veh ic l e  scheduling t h e  conclusion w a s  t h a t  t h e r e  i s  a need f o r  f l e x i b l e ,  user- f r i e n d l y ,  i n t e r a c t i v e ,  and cheap veh ic l e  schedul ing  software.  Papers by Belardo, Duchessi and Seagle 1 2 1 ,  Bodin and Golden [ 3 1 ,  Golden and Goodwin [ 4 1 ,  and Golden and Wasil [ 5 1  suppor t  t h i s  conclusion. Further- more t h e  au tho r s  r2 -51  recommend t h e  use of microcomputers t o  meet t h e  requirements of f l e x i b i l i t y ,  u se r - f r i end l ines s ,  i n t e r a c t i v i t y  and cheapness. The reasons  for i n t e r a c t i v i t y  are among o t h e r  t h ings :  - no t  a l l  f a c t o r s  i n  a problem can o r  are wanted t o  be q u a n t i f i e d  - an i n t e r a c t i v e  system provides t h e  user  wi th  more f l e x i b i l i t y  - it is  poss ib l e  t o  combine t h e  speed of a computer, good s o f t -  ware, and t h e  experience of a d i s t r i b u t i o n  planner - exper ience  shows t h a t  good plan- n e r s  i n  f a c t  are a b l e  t o  improve h e u r i s t i c  s o l u t i o n s  cons iderably  The reasons  f o r  implementation on a ing  and scheduling problems where t i m e  con- s t r a i n t s  are imposed. The system is  in t e rac -  t i v e ,  which makes it poss ib l e  t o  incorpora te  usua l ly  unquant i f iab le  f a c t o r s  on t o p  of  t h e  s o l u t i o n  process  and t o  produce b e t t e r  solu- personal computer are: - personal  computers are cheap - it is  r a t h e r  easy  t o  develop f a s t  CH2556-9/88/0000-0341 $1 .OO @ 1988 IEEE 341 Authorized licensed use limited to: Danmarks Tekniske Informationscenter. Downloaded on July 01,2010 at 09:54:48 UTC from IEEE Xplore.  Restrictions apply. i n t e r a c t i v e  g raph ic s  on a p e r s o n a l  computer Bodin and Golden [31 r e p o r t  on 13 American v e h i c l e  r o u t i n g  systems commercially a v a i l a b l e  on a microcomputer. Two of t h e  systems so lve  only  t h e  t r a v e l l i n g  salesman problem. The remaining 11  systems are grouped i n t o  two c l a s s e s .  The inexpens ive  v e h i c l e  r o u t i n g  packages (5 systems) g e n e r a l l y  c o s t -  i ng  less than  US$ 5000 and t h e  more expens ive  r o u t i n g  packages ( 6  sys tems)  c o s t i n g  between U S $  1 0 0 0 0  and 145000  (on t h e  average  around U S $  4 0 0 0 0 ) .  Among t h e  11 systems a l l  b u t  one sy- stem r e q u i r e  only  an IBM XT/AT compat ib le  pe r sona l  computer w i th  256 o r  512 Kbytes. However only  5 of t h e  1 1  systems o f f e r  some g raph ics  c a p a b i l i t i e s  which i s  one of t h e  key advantages  of microcomputers. Only 3 of t h e  5 g raph ic  systems a r e  i n t e r a c t i v e .  2 of t h e s e  systems a r e  r a t h e r  s p e c i a l  purpose systems l eav ing  only one system. The 3 i n t e r a c t i v e  sy- stems c o s t  between US$ 1 0 0 0 0  and 145000 (on t h e  average  U S $  5 1 0 0 0 ) .  Although t h e  r e p o r t  mentioned above i s  w r i t t e n  i n  1985, and a l though t h e  number of systems w i l l  i n c r e a s e  and t h e  cost  of t h e  systems w i l l  d ec rease  t h e r e  i s  s t i l l  a need f o r  more i n t e r a c t i v e  g raph ic s  suppor ted  microcomputer-based systems f o r  v e h i c l e  schedul ing .  This  paper d e s c r i b e s  such a sy- stem developed a t  IMSOR by Bo Wrensen  under supe rv i s ion  by t h e  au tho r  i n  t h e  p e r i o d  Sep- tember 1983 t o  January 1987. The system which i s  named MIGA - Modular I n t e r a c t i v e  Graphics Approach - i s  implemented i n  Pasca l  on a per- sona l  computer. J b r n s t e n ,  Madsen and S@rensen [ 6 1 ,  and Kolen, Rinnooy Kan and Trienekens [ 7 1  have suggemsted optimum-f ind ing  methods f o r  v e h i c l e  r o u t i n g  problems wi th  t i m e  windows, whi le  Solomon [81 has  sugges ted  s e v e r a l  h e u r i s t i c  methods. Given t h e  d i f f i c u l t y  of t h i s  problem c l a s s ,  h e u r i s t i c  methods seem t o  o f f e r  t h e  most promise f o r  p r a c t i c a l  s i z e  problems. L'ST"G W I N D O W  342 M A P  W I N D O W  The I n t e r a c t i v e  System The MIGA system s o l v e s  by h e u r i s t i c  methods v e h i c l e  schedul ing  problems wi th  one depo t ,  one commodity, a number of t r u c k s  wi th  given c a p a c i t i e s ,  a number of customers wi th  g iven  l o c a t i o n ,  demand, s e r v i c e  t i m e ,  and t i m e  windows f o r  d e l i v e r y .  t o  minimize: - p r i o r i t y  1:  t h e  - p r i o r i t y  2:  t h e  t i m e  - p r i o r i t y  3: t h e  t r a v e l l e d  The o b j e c t i v e  is  number of v e h i c l e s  t o t a l  schedul ing  t o t a l  dis, tance The u s e r  may change the solution by an interactive d i a l o g  wi th  t h e  system. The u s e r  communicates wi th  t h e  system by t h e  keyboard and mainly by a mouse. The keyboard i s  used f o r  nondiscre te  alpha-numeric informat ion .  The communication s t r a t e g y  i s  d i a l o g  based. M E N U  W I N D O W  I I I I R E M A R K  W I N O O W  I F i v e  1 Screen layout The sc reen  l ayou t  i s  shown i n  f i g u r e  1 .  The main menu w i l l  always be p r e s e n t  i n  t h e  ma'in menu window. This  w i l l  g ive  t h e  u s e r  an oppor tun i ty  t o  s e l e c t  an op t ion  from t h e  main menu a t  any t i m e ,  even when running  a sub-menu; i f  so t h e  sub-menu w i l l  be t e r m i -  n a t e d ,  and t h e  new op t ion  i n  t h e  main menu w i l l  be  a c t i v a t e d .  When s e l e c t i n g  an op t ion  from t h e  main menu, move t h e  mouse c u r s o r  (an X on t h e  sc reen )  t o  t h e  a p p r o p r i a t e  op t ion  and p r e s s  t h e  bu t ton  on t h e  mouse, thereby  " p u l l i n g  down" the selected s u b - m e n u .  S t i l l  w i t h  t h e  bu t ton  p res sed ,  t h e  u s e r  p o i n t s  a t  t h e  appro- p r i a t e  a l t e r n a t i v e  and releases t h e  bu t ton .  The pull-down menu w i l l  d i s appea r  aga in  and t h e  s e l e c t e d  a c t i o n  w i l l  be executed  by t h e  system. F igu re  2 shows one of t h e  pull-down menus - t h e  SOLVE menu. Using t h i s  approaoh, t h e  main menu i s  always p r e s e n t  and t h e  sub- menus w i l l  on ly  appear when c a l l e d  f o r .  Authorized licensed use limited to: Danmarks Tekniske Informationscenter. Downloaded on July 01,2010 at 09:54:48 UTC from IEEE Xplore.  Restrictions apply. File Print Display Solve improve Edit Problem Database Quit Sa vi nqs insertion Figure 2 Exampk? of a pull-down nkmu (the SOLVE m u )  The l i s t i n g  window is  used f o r  d i s -  p lay ing  alpha-numeric l i s t i n g s  of e.g. r o u t e s  and schedules .  The l i s t i n g  window i s  sep- a r a t e d  from t h e  map window, a l lowing  t h e  u s e r  t o  work s imultaneously wi th  alpha-numeric and graphic  i l l u s t r a t i o n s  of t h e  problem. The map window i s  p r i m a r i l y  used t o  show t h e  geographic area and t h e  r o u t e s  as- s o c i a t e d  wi th  t h e  problem c u r r e n t l y  workedon. The remark window c o n t a i n s  two k inds  .of information.  The f a r  r i g h t  end of  t h e  re- mark window w i l l  show t h e  name a s s o c i a t e d  with t h e  c u r r e n t  problem or geographic a rea .  The l e f t  p a r t  of t h e  window w i l l  d i s p l a y  d i f -  f e r e n t  help- information f o r  t h e  u s e r ,  guiding t h e  u s e r  smoothly through t h e  problem-solving process .  In  case an i n p u t  of non-discrete  alpha-numeric d a t a  is  necessary a l l  q u e s t i o n s  have been s tandard ized  t o  one form thereby  avoiding t o  confront  t h e  user  with a new kind of ques t ion  each t i m e  an alpha-numeric input  i s  needed. I n  c a s e  of d i s c r e t e  choices  between a l t e r n a t i v e s  t h e s e  are incorpora ted  i n  t h e  menus. Yes/no ques t ions  are answered by us ing  t h e  mouse. When w e  are cons ider ing  alpha-nume- r ic  d i s p l a y  of d a t a ,  c o l o u r s  s e r v e  t h e  pur- pose of enhancing r e a d a b i l i t y .  The c o l o u r s  a l s o  serve  t h e  purpose of connect ing alpha- numeric i n f o r n a t i o n  wi th  t h e  r o u t e s  drawn on t h e  map window. This  i s  done by us ing  t h e  colour  corresponding t o  t h e  r o u t e  i n  t h e  alpha-numeric d i s p l a y .  Five da tabases  are connected t o  t h e  MIGA system. A road da tabase  holds  informa- t i o n  of t h e  geographical  area i n  ques t ion .  A customer da tabase  holds  information of each cust0mer.A fleet database holds  information about  t h e  v e h i c l e s  i n  t h e  f l e e t .  An o r d e r  se holds  information of t h e  customers 343 t o  be served wi th in  t h e  planning horizon.  F i n a l l y  an i n t e r n a l  r o u t e  and schedul inq da tabase  holds  information on t h e  p r e s e n t  planning s i t u a t i o n .  The road da tabase  i s  n o t  a t  p r e s e n t  implemented i n  t h e  s tandard  MIGA system b u t  e x i s t i n g  road da tabases  may be con- nec ted  t o  MIGA. As ear l ier  mentioned t h e  main menu i s  always p r e s e n t  on t h e  screen .  If o f f e r s  t h e  fol lowipg sub-menus: - ' F i l e  : - P r i n t  : - Display : - so lve  : - Improve : - E d i t  : - Problem : - Database : - Q u i t  : Controls  a l l  input /output  t o  f i l e  C o n t r o l s p r i n t i n g  of d a t a  from da tabase  Cont ro ls  d i s p l a y  of d a t a  from da tabase  Cont ro ls  use of s o l u t i o n  methods Cont ro ls  use of improve- ment methods Cont ro ls  e d i t i n g  of t h e  s o l u t i o n  Cont ro ls  t h e  problem de- f i n i t i o n  Cont ro ls  reading  from t h e  da tabase  and e d i t i n g  t h e  da tabase  Cont ro ls  te rmina t ion  of of t h e  program The d i s p l a y  menu makes it p o s s i b l e  t o  c o n t r o l  a l l  t h e  o u t p u t  t o  t h e  l i s t i n g  win- dow and t h e  map window of t h e  screen .  The s o l u t i o n  menu a l lows  choice  be t -  ween f o u r  h e u r i s t i c  s o l u t i o n  methods f o r p r o b -  lems which are n o t  time c o n s t r a i n e d  and t h r e e  h e u r i s t i c  s o l u t i o n  methods f o r  problems with t i m e  window c o n s t r a i n t s .  The four  methods are h a d e s t ,  sav ings ,  i n s e r t i o n ,  and two-phase. A more d e t a i l e d  d e s c r i p t i o n  of t h e  methods may be found i n  Sqjrensen [ 9 ] .  Numerical exper i -  ments seem t o  show t h a t  two-phase u s u a l l y  g i v e s  t h e  b e s t  r e s u l t s .  The t h r e e  methods f o r  t i m e  consf ra ined  problems are h a r d e s t ,  saving, and i n s e r t i o n  [ 9 ] .  The methods bear  t h e  same names as t h e  non-time cons t ra ined  s o l u t i o n  methods and as such they  are g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s  of t h e s e  methods. Here experiments  shows t h a t  i n s e r t i o n  u s u a l l y  g i v e s  t h e  bes t  r e s u l t s .  A l l  methods are e s p e c i a l l y  adapted f o r  use  i n  an i n t e r a c t i v e  environment. Authorized licensed use limited to: Danmarks Tekniske Informationscenter. Downloaded on July 01,2010 at 09:54:48 UTC from IEEE Xplore.  Restrictions apply. The improvement menu makes it pos- s i b l e  t o  improve s o l u t i o n s  from t h e  s o l u t i o n  menu o r  s o l u t i o n s  obta ined  by an i n t e r a c t i v e  d i a l o g  between t h e  u s e r  and MIGA. The e d i t  menu g ives  t h e  u s e r  access t o  a complete r o u t e  and schedule  e d i t o r .  This  impl ies  t h a t  t h e  u s e r  can e d i t  t h e  planning , s i t u a t i o n  and see t h e  consequences immedia- I t e l y .  The u s e r  may e . g .  move customers ,  con- n e c t  customers ,  p r o h i b i t  connect ion between customers ,  o r  r e l e a s e  s p e c i a l  customers o r  p a i r s  of customers .  The System Hardware The system hardware w i l l  run on IBM compatible  person21 computers. The computer schould be i n t e r n a l l y  equipped wi th  6 4 0  Kbytes of RAM memory with e i t h e r  two 320 Kbytes d i s c  d r i v e s  o r  one 320 Kbytes d i s c  d r i v e  and one 1 0 / 2 0  Mbyte hard d i s c .  Furthermore a mechan- i ca l  mouse i s  needed as p o i n t i n g  device.  The screen  s h a l l  be a colour  graphics  screen  wi th  a s p a t i a l  r e s o l u t i o n  of 6 4 0  d o t s  v e r t i c a l  and 200  d o t s  h o r i z o n t a l .  The s tandard  co lour  re- s o l u t i o n  i s  16 p o s s i b l e  c o l o u r s  f o r  each dot .  The p r i c e  of t h e  sof tware w i l l  be approxima- t e l y  US$ 7000-9000  p l u s  geocoding, maps and t r a i n i n g .  The System Performance Apart  from t h e  s o l u t i o n  menu u s u a l  o p e r a t i o n s  r e q u i r e  l es  than  a second i.e. MIGA works on-l ine.  A 100 p o i n t  problem with- o u t  t i m e  c o n s t r a i n t s  can be so lved  by two- phase i n  1-2 seconds on an IMB PC/AT. Usual- l y  t h e  improvement opera t ion  improves t h e  so- l u t i o n  by some 5-8% and manual changes may improve t h e  s o l u t i o n  by 5%. A 1 0 0  p o i n t  problem wi th  time con- s t r a i n t s  can be solved by i n s e r t i o n  i n  7-15 seconds on an I B M  PC/AT. I n  a d d i t i o n  manual changes may a l s o  here  improve t h e  s o l u t i o n .  Problems wi th  s e v e r a l  hundred cus- tomers may e a s i l y  be solved.  References [ l ]  M.A.G. Bocxe and C . B .  T i l a n u s ,  "Tes t ing  v e h i c l e  schedul ing programs f o r  milk c o l -  l e c t i o n , "  European J o u r n a l  of Opera t iona l  Research, V o l .  2 0 ,  pp. 25-33, 1985. S. Belardo,  P. Duche "Microcomputer graph v e h i c l e  f l e e t  r o u t i r 2 ,  y n t e r f a c e s ,  V o l .  15,  pp. 84-92, November-December 1985. L. Bodin and B. Golden, sof tware  f o r  microcompu i n  Impacts of Microcomputers on Operations Research e d i t e d  by S . I .  Gass, H . J .  Green- Hoffman and R.W. Langly;. New -Holland, 1986, pp. 65-72. and T.  Goodwin, "Microcompu- te r -based  v e h i c l e  r o u t i n g  and schedul ing  K.O. J d r n s t e n ,  O.B .G.  Mad B. SQrensen, "Exact s o l u t i o n  of t h e  v e h i c l e  r o u t i n g  and schedul ing  problem wi th  t i m e  windows by v a r i a b l e  s p l i t t i n g , "  Research Report  5/1986 from IMSOR, The I n s t i t u t e  of Mathematical S t a t i s t i c s  and Operat ions Research, The Technical  Uni- v e r s i t y  of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark, march 1986. A.W.J. Kolen, A.H.G. Rinnooy Kan and H.W. J . M .  Tr ienekens,  "Vehicle  r o u t i n g  w i t h  t i m e  windows, " Operat ions Research, Vol. 35, pp. 266-273, March-April 1987. M.M. Solomon, "Algortihms f o r  v e h i c l e  r o u t i n g  and schedul ing problems wi th  t i m e  window c o n s t r a i n t s  , " Operat ions Research, V o l .  35, pp. 254-265, March-April 1987. B. Sgrensen, I n t e r a c t i v e  D i s t r i b u t i o n  Planning. PhD t h e s i s  from IMSOR, The I n s t i t u t e  of Mathematical S t a t i s t i c s  and Operat ions Research, The Technical  Uni- v e r s i t y  of Denmark, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark, January 1986. 344 Authorized licensed use limited to: Danmarks Tekniske Informationscenter. Downloaded on July 01,2010 at 09:54:48 UTC from IEEE Xplore.  Restrictions apply. 

Microcomputer-based Interactive Distribution Planning

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Microcomputer-based Interactive Distribution Planning

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