The capacitated plant location problem (CPL) consists of locating a set of potential plants with capacities, and assigning a set of customers to these plants. The objective is to minimize the total fixed and shipping costs while at the same time demand of all the customers can be satisfied without violating the capacity restrictions of the plants. The CPL is a well-known combinatorial optimizat...

With stochastic integer programming as the motivating application, we investigate techniques to use integrality constraints to obtain improved cuts within a Benders decomposition algorithm. We compare the effect of using cuts in two ways: (i) cut-and-project, where integrality constraints are used to derive cuts in the extended variable space, and Benders cuts are then used to project the resul...

In this thesis, a Benders decomposition algorithm is designed and implemented to solve both deterministic and stochastic pooling problems to global optimality. Convergence of the algorithm to a global optimum is proved and then it is implemented both in GAMS and C++ to get the best performance. A series of example problems are solved, both with the proposed Benders decomposition algorithm and c...

We present two exact algorithms based on Benders decomposition for solving the multicommodity uncapacitated fixed-charge network design problem. The first implements Benders decomposition within a branch-and-cut framework. We present implementation techniques crucial for the algorithm's efficiency such as cut selection criteria and core point definition and highlight their impact on the solutio...

In this paper we introduce a new formulation of the logistics network design problem encountered in deterministic, single-country, single-period contexts. Our formulation is flexible and integrates location and capacity choices for plants and warehouses with supplier and transportation mode selection, product range assignment and product flows. We next describe two approaches for solving the pr...

Branch-and-Check, introduced ten years ago, is a generalization of logic-based Benders decomposition. The key extension is to solve the Benders sub-problems at each feasible solution of the master problem rather than only at an optimal solution. We perform the first systematic empirical comparison of logic-based Benders decomposition and branchand-check. On four problem types the results indica...

In this paper, a general scheme for generating extra cuts during the execution of a Benders decomposition algorithm is presented. These cuts are based on feasible and infeasible master problem solutions generated by means of a heuristic. This article includes general guidelines and a case study with a fixed charge network design problem. Computational tests with instances of this problem show t...

In this paper, a general scheme for generating extra cuts during the execution of a Benders decomposition algorithm is presented. These cuts are based on feasible and infeasible master problem solutions generated by means of a heuristic. This article includes general guidelines and a case study with a fixed charge network design problem. Computational tests with instances of this problem show t...

The Benders decomposition algorithm has been successfully applied to a wide range of difficult optimization problems.This paper presents a state-of-the-art survey of this algorithm, with an emphasis on its use in combinatorial optimization. We discuss the classical algorithm, the impact of the problem formulation on its convergence, and the relationship to other decomposition methods. We introd...

We study an unrelated parallel machines scheduling problem with sequence and machine dependent setup times. A logicbased Benders decomposition approach is proposed to minimize the makespan. This approach is a hybrid model that makes use of a mixed integer programming master problem and a specialized solver for travelling salesman subproblems. The master problem is used to assign jobs to machine...