A CONSTRUCTION HEURISTICS FOR VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEM IN FUEL DISTRIBUTION

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• Logistics,fuel distribution,vehicle routing problem

AKARYAKIT DAĞITIMINDA ARAÇ ROTALAMA PROBLEMİ İÇİN BİR BAŞLANGIÇ ÇÖZÜMÜ

Öz

Araç Rotalama Problemi (ARP) dağıtım alanındaki en bilinen problemlerden birisidir. Problemde bir merkez depodan turlarına başlayan araçlar, müşterileri ziyaret edip tekrar depoya dönmektedirler. ARP’nin pek çok çeşidi bulunmaktadır. Akaryakıt dağıtımı da Kompartmanlı Araç Rotalama Problemi (KARP) adı verilen ARP’nin farklı bir versiyonunu sunmaktadır. KARP’de karışmaması gereken akaryakıt ürünleri farklı kompartımanlarda taşınmaktadır. ARP’de olduğu gibi KARP için çözüm yöntemleri de genelde rota oluşturma sezgiselleri ve iyileştirme sezgiselleri olmak üzere iki kategoriye ayrılmaktadır. Her iki sezgisel kategorisi ile ilgili ARP ile ilgili geniş bir literatür olmasına rağmen, KARP için literatür sınırlıdır.  Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye’de akaryakıt dağıtım problemi için bir başlangıç çözümü önermektir. Problemi KARP haline getiren, her müşteriye birden fazla kez uğrama, kompartıman, tolerans gibi değişkenler bulunmaktadır. Tasarruf Algoritması (TA) bir yükleme algoritması ile entegre edilerek problem için bir başlangıç çözümü önerilmiştir.  Önerilen yöntem test problemleri üzerinde test edilmiş ve literatürle kıyaslandığında kabul edilebilir sonuçlar vermiştir. Önerilen yöntemle gerçek hayat akaryakıt dağıtım problemi çözülmüştür ve önemli maliyet iyileştirmesi gerçekleştirilmiştir. Önerilen yöntem hem KARP problemlerinde başlangıç çözümü olarak, hem de pratik uygulama olarak Türkiye’de akaryakıt dağıtımında kullanılabilir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• lojistik,akaryakıt dağıtımı,araç rotalama problemi

Kaynakça

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