The fleet size and mix location-routing problem with time windows: Formulations and a heuristic algorithm

Çaʇri Koç, Tolga Bektaş, Ola Jabali, Gilbert Laporte

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

98 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

This paper introduces the fleet size and mix location-routing problem with time windows (FSMLRPTW) which extends the location-routing problem by considering a heterogeneous fleet and time windows. The main objective is to minimize the sum of vehicle fixed cost, depot cost and routing cost. We present mixed integer programming formulations, a family of valid inequalities and we develop a powerful hybrid evolutionary search algorithm (HESA) to solve the problem. The HESA successfully combines several metaheuristics and offers a number of new advanced efficient procedures tailored to handle heterogeneous fleet dimensioning and location decisions. We evaluate the strengths of the proposed formulations with respect to their ability to find optimal solutions. We also investigate the performance of the HESA. Extensive computational experiments on new benchmark instances have shown that the HESA is highly effective on the FSMLRPTW.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)33-51
Number of pages19
JournalEuropean Journal of Operational Research
Volume248
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2016

Keywords

  • genetic algorithm
  • heterogeneous fleet
  • location-routing
  • mixed integer programming
  • time windows

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Computer Science
  • Modelling and Simulation
  • Management Science and Operations Research
  • Information Systems and Management

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