In this study, we consider a tactical problem where a time slot combination for delivery service over a given planning horizon must be selected in each zone of a geographical area. Based on the selected time slot combinations, routes are then constructed for the fleet of delivery vehicles for each period of the planning horizon. The routing plan serves as a blueprint for the following operation...

The single vehicle routing problem with multiple routes is a variant of the vehicle routing problem where the vehicle can be dispatched to several routes during its workday to serve a number of customers. In this paper we propose a goal programming model for multi-objective single vehicle routing problem with time windows and multiple routes. To solve the model, we present a heuristic method wh...

This paper deals with a study on a variant of the Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem (PVRP). As in the traditional Vehicle Routing Problem, customer locations each with a certain daily demand are given, as well as a set of capacitated vehicles. In addition, the PVRP has a horizon, say T days, and there is a frequency for each customer stating how often within this T-day period this customer must ...

This paper presents a continuous approximation model for the Period Vehicle Routing Problem with Service Choice (PVRP-SC). The PVRP-SC is a variant of the Period Vehicle Routing Problem in which the visit frequency to nodes is a decision of the model. This variation can result in more e±cient vehicle tours and/or greater service bene ̄t to customers. The continuous approximation model can facili...

In this paper, we explore trade-offs between operational flexibility and operational complexity in periodic distribution problems. We consider the gains from operational flexibility in terms of vehicle routing costs and customer service benefits, and the costs of operational complexity in terms of implementation difficulty. Periodic distribution problems arise in a number of industries, includi...

We provide a sweep coverage algorithm for routing mobile sensors that communicate with a central data sink. This algorithm improves on its predecessors by reducing the number of unnecessary scans when different points of interest (POIs) have different requirements for the time interval within which they must be scanned (sweep period). Most sweep coverage algorithms seek to minimize the number o...

the inventory routing problem (irp) arises in the context of vendor-managed systems. this problem addresses jointly solving an inventory management problem and a vehicle routing problem. in this paper, we consider a multi-depot multi-vehicle inventory routing problem in which suppliers produce one type of product to be delivered to customers during a finite time horizon. we propose a two-phase ...

The aim of this paper is to propose a new heuristic for the Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem (PVRP) without time windows. The PVRP extends the classical Vehicle Routing Problem to a planning horizon of several days. Each customer requires a certain number of visits within this time horizon while there is some flexibility on the exact days of the visits. Hence, one has to choose the visit days f...

This paper investigates the periodic delivery planning of vending machine problem (PDPVMP). The problem is a periodic vehicle routing problem (PVRP), which is also an extension of the typical vehicle routing problem (VRP). The considered PDPVMP contains multiple vending machines with periodic demands. For each vending machine, its replenishment frequency is either once per two days or twice per...