The Balanced Wheat Supply Problem and a Heuristic Algorithm

Wheat is a strategic commodity, and so its distribution system is always one of the major issues facing countries. The cost of wheat distribution and storage and the differences in the nutrient content of different wheats, have caused complicated problems in the wheat supply chain. In addition to controlling distribution costs, it could enhance the quality of wheat through blending different kinds of wheat  in several areas. This research attempts to describe this problem by using a complex integer optimization model. This problem, in terms of complexity, is considered as a NP-hard problem, and for this reason, an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search is proposed to solve it. The analysis of the solutions shows that the synchronization of the blending and routing problems will improve the overall optimal point. Also, to evaluate the quality of the proposed algorithm's solutions, the algorithm's results are compared with the exact algorithm's answers; the results indicate the proper performance of the proposed algorithm.