Exact Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Combinatorial Auction

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Zhang ◽  
Zhixing Luo ◽  
Hu Qin ◽  
Andrew Lim
Keyword(s):  
Vehicle Routing ◽  
Vehicle Routing Problem ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Exact Algorithms ◽  
Combinatorial Auction ◽  
Routing Problem

Learning-Based Branch-and-Price Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Two-Dimensional Loading Constraints

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangyi Zhang ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Michel Gendreau ◽  
André Langevin
Keyword(s):  
Vehicle Routing ◽  
Operations Research ◽  
Vehicle Routing Problem ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Exact Algorithms ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Branch And Price ◽  
Routing Problem ◽  
Loading Constraints

A capacitated vehicle routing problem with two-dimensional loading constraints is addressed. Associated with each customer are a set of rectangular items, the total weight of the items, and a time window. Designing exact algorithms for the problem is very challenging because the problem is a combination of two NP-hard problems. An exact branch-and-price algorithm and an approximate counterpart are proposed to solve the problem. We introduce an exact dominance rule and an approximate dominance rule. To cope with the difficulty brought by the loading constraints, a new column generation mechanism boosted by a supervised learning model is proposed. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of integrating the learning model in terms of CPU time and calls of the feasibility checker. Moreover, the branch-and-price algorithms are able to significantly improve the solutions of the existing instances from literature and solve instances with up to 50 customers and 103 items. Summary of Contribution: We wish to submit an original research article entitled “Learning-based branch-and-price algorithms for a vehicle routing problem with time windows and two-dimensional loading constraints” for consideration by IJOC. We confirm that this work is original and has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under for publication elsewhere. In this paper, we report a study in which we develop two branch-and-price algorithms with a machine learning model injected to solve a vehicle routing problem integrated the two-dimensional packing. Due to the complexity brought by the integration, studies on exact algorithms in this field are very limited. Our study is important to the field, because we develop an effective method to significantly mitigate computational burden brought by the packing problem so that exactness turns to be achievable within reasonable time budget. The approach can be generalized to the three-dimensional case by simply replacing the packing algorithm. It can also be adapted for other VRPs when high-dimensional loading constraints are concerned. Broadly speaking, the study is a typical example of adopting supervised learning to achieve acceleration for operations research algorithms, which expands the envelop of computing and operations research. Hence, we believe this manuscript is appropriate for publication by IJOC.

scholarly journals A hybrid ant colony algorithm based on multiple strategies for the vehicle routing problem with time windows

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongguang Wu ◽  
Yuelin Gao ◽  
Wanting Wang ◽  
Ziyu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Vehicle Routing ◽  
Vehicle Routing Problem ◽  
Ant Colony Algorithm ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Ant Colony ◽  
Routing Problem ◽  
Multiple Strategies ◽  
Hard Time ◽  
Mutation Operation

AbstractIn this paper, we propose a vehicle routing problem with time windows (TWVRP). In this problem, we consider a hard time constraint that the fleet can only serve customers within a specific time window. To solve this problem, a hybrid ant colony (HACO) algorithm is proposed based on ant colony algorithm and mutation operation. The HACO algorithm proposed has three innovations: the first is to update pheromones with a new method; the second is the introduction of adaptive parameters; and the third is to add the mutation operation. A famous Solomon instance is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Experimental results show that HACO algorithm is effective against solving the problem of vehicle routing with time windows. Besides, the proposed algorithm also has practical implications for vehicle routing problem and the results show that it is applicable and effective in practical problems.

scholarly journals The last-mile vehicle routing problem with delivery options

OR Spectrum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Tilk ◽  
Katharina Olkis ◽  
Stefan Irnich
Keyword(s):  
Vehicle Routing ◽  
Vehicle Routing Problem ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Routing Problem ◽  
Common Location ◽  
Delivery Options

AbstractThe ongoing rise in e-commerce comes along with an increasing number of first-time delivery failures due to the absence of the customer at the delivery location. Failed deliveries result in rework which in turn has a large impact on the carriers’ delivery cost. In the classical vehicle routing problem (VRP) with time windows, each customer request has only one location and one time window describing where and when shipments need to be delivered. In contrast, we introduce and analyze the vehicle routing problem with delivery options (VRPDO), in which some requests can be shipped to alternative locations with possibly different time windows. Furthermore, customers may prefer some delivery options. The carrier must then select, for each request, one delivery option such that the carriers’ overall cost is minimized and a given service level regarding customer preferences is achieved. Moreover, when delivery options share a common location, e.g., a locker, capacities must be respected when assigning shipments. To solve the VRPDO exactly, we present a new branch-price-and-cut algorithm. The associated pricing subproblem is a shortest-path problem with resource constraints that we solve with a bidirectional labeling algorithm on an auxiliary network. We focus on the comparison of two alternative modeling approaches for the auxiliary network and present optimal solutions for instances with up to 100 delivery options. Moreover, we provide 17 new optimal solutions for the benchmark set for the VRP with roaming delivery locations.

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