The paper proposes and validates a new method of solving instances of the vehicle routing problem (VRP). The approach is based on a multiple agent system paradigm. The paper contains the VRP formulation, an overview of the multiple agent environment used and a description of the proposed implementation. The approach is validated experimentally. The experiment plan and the discussion of experime...

In this paper, we study a rich vehicle routing problem incorporating various complexities found in real-life applications. The General Vehicle Routing Problem (GVRP) is a combined load acceptance and generalised vehicle routing problem. Among the real-life requirements are time window restrictions, a heterogeneous vehicle fleet with different travel times, travel costs and capacity, multi-dimen...

Deriving the optimal cash deployment strategy for a network of ATMs involves the analysis of logistics costs, inventory policies as well as of the routing of replenishment vehicles. The optimal cash deployment strategy focuses on the reduction of cash-related expenses provided that ATMs do not run out of cash. In the paper, this rich vehicle routing problem is solved using genetic algorithm. Th...

an integrated model considers all parameters and elements of different deficiencies in one problem. this paper presents a new integrated model of a supply chain that simultaneously considers facility location, vehicle routing and inventory control problems as well as their interactions in one problem, called location-routing-inventory (lri) problem. this model also considers stochastic demands ...

Many real-world optimization problems today are multi-objective multi-constraint generalizations of NP-hard problems. A classic case we study in this paper is the Inventory Routing Problem with Time Windows (IRPTW). IRPTW considers inventory costs across multiple instances of Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW). The latter is in turn extended with time-windows constraints from the...

In this paper we model and solve the multi-depot fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem (MDFSMVRP). This problem extends the multi-depot vehicle routing problem and the fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem, two logistics problems that have been extensively studied for many decades. This difficult transportation problem combines complex assignment and routing decisions under the object...

The article describes an investigation of the effectiveness of genetic algorithms for multi-objective combinatorial optimization (MOCO) by presenting an application for the vehicle routing problem with soft time windows. The work is motivated by the question, if and how the problem structure influences the effectiveness of different configurations of the genetic algorithm. Computational results...

This article addresses a general tri-objective two-echelon capacitated vehicle routing problem (2E-CVRP) to minimize the total travel cost, customers waiting times and carbon dioxide emissions simultaneously in distributing perishable products. In distributing perishable products, customers’ satisfaction is very important and is inversely proportional to the customers waiting times. The propose...

One of the most important extensions of the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) is the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery (VRPSPD) where customers require simultaneous delivery and pick-up service. In this paper, we propose an effective ant colony optimization (EACO) which includes insert, swap and 2-Opt moves for solving VRPSPD that is different with common an...