In Multi-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problems the delivery from one or more depots to the customers is managed by routing and consolidating the freight through intermediate depots, called satellites. This family of problems differs from Multi-Echelon Distribution Systems present in the literature. In the latter the attention is focused on the flow assignment among the levels only, while we also con...

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 powerfu...

In this paper, a hybrid genetic algorithm is proposed to solve a Capacitated Location-Routing Problem. The objective is to minimize the total cost of the distribution in a network composed of depots and customers, both depots and vehicles have limited capacities, each depot has a homogenous vehicle fleet and customers’ demands are known and must be satisfied. Solving this problem involves makin...

The present work aims to support tactical and operational planning decisions of reverse logistics systems while considering economic, environmental and social objectives. In the literature, when addressing such systems economic aspects have been often used, while environmental concerns have emerged only recently. The social component is the one less studied and rarely the combination of the thr...

Following the occurrence of unexpected events and natural disasters, a highly important relief operation is the transferring of relief commodities from the distribution centers (CDs) to shelters. In this paper, a three-level network consisting of depot of vehicles, distribution centers and shelters has been considered for routing and scheduling of relief vehicles through introducing a multi-obj...

Based on the characteristics of perishable goods, we extend the location-routing problem with distance constraints by adopting chance constrained goal programming approach to solve the uncertainty and to express the different priority levels of decisions. The random of depot construction costs and vehicle routing travel time is taken into account. Meanwhile, a two-stage genetic algorithm incorp...

Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely applied in logistics companies’ urban distribution, as fuel prices increase and environmental awareness grows. This study introduces an EV charging station (CS) location-routing problem with time windows resource sharing (EVCS-LRPTWRS). Resource sharing, among multiple depots within service periods is proposed to adjust the transportation configuration for a s...

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 ...