One
of the well known problems in distribution is the Vehicle Routing Problem
(VRP). In this problem, vehicles start their tours from a depot, they visit the
customers and finish their tours in the depot again. There are several variants
of VRP. Fuel distribution
provides a different kind of VRP which is called as Multi Compartment Vehicle
Routing Problem (MCVRP). In MCRVP vehicles have compartments and incompatible
petroleum products are delivered in different compartments of a vehicle. For
both of the problems solution methods can be classified into two categories;
route construction heuristics and improvemenet heuristics. While there is a
significant literature on VRP regarding these heuristics, the literature on
MCVRP is much more limited. The aim of this study is to offer a construction
heuristics for a fuel distribution problem in Turkey. The problem has some
features such as compartments, visiting customers more than once and tolerance
which turns it into a MCVRP problem. Savings Algorithm (SA) and a loading
algorithm is integrated to develop a construction heuristics for the problem.
Proposed heuristics is tested on test problems and acceptable results obtained
when compared with the literature. A real life fuel distribution problem is
solved with the propsed heuristics and significant cost reduction has been
achieved. The proposed method can be used as a construction method in MCVRP and
as a practical solution for real life problems in fuel distribution in Turkey.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Article |
Authors | |
Publication Date | December 31, 2019 |
Published in Issue | Year 2019 |
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