Research Article
Introducing the MCHF/OVRP/SDMP:
Multicapacitated/Heterogeneous Fleet/Open Vehicle Routing
Problems with Split Deliveries and Multiproducts
Duygu Yilmaz Eroglu, Burcu Caglar Gencosman, Fatih Cavdur, and H. Cenk Ozmutlu
Department of Industrial Engineering, Uludag University, Gorukle, 16059 Bursa, Turkey
CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoDuyguYilmazEroglu;duygueroglu@uludag.edu.tr
Received25February2014;Revised7May2014;Accepted7May2014;Published16June2014
AcademicEditor:Chin-ChiaWu
Copyright©2014DuyguYilmazErogluetal. hisisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
In this paper, we analyze a real-world OVRP problem for a production company. Considering real-world constrains, we
classifyourproblemasmulticapacitated/heterogeneous leet/openvehicleroutingproblemwithsplitdeliveriesandmultiproduct
(MCHF/OVRP/SDMP)whichisanovelclassiicationofanOVRP.Wehavedevelopedamixedintegerprogramming(MIP)model
fortheproblemandgeneratedtestproblemsindiferentsize(10–90customers)consideringreal-worldparameters.AlthoughMIP
isableto indoptimalsolutionsofsmallsize(10customers)problems,whenthenumberofcustomersincreases,theproblemgets
hardertosolve,andthusMIPcouldnotindoptimalsolutionsforproblemsthatcontainmorethan10customers.Moreover,MIP
failsto indanyfeasiblesolutionoflarge-scaleproblems(50–90customers)withintimelimits(7200seconds). herefore,we have
developedageneticalgorithm(GA)basedsolutionapproachforlarge-scaleproblems. heexperimentalresultsshowthattheGA
basedapproachreachessuccessfulsolutionswith9.66%gapin392.8sonaverageinsteadof7200sfortheproblemsthatcontain
10–50 customers. For large-scale problems (50–90 customers), GA reaches feasible solutions of problems within time limits. In
conclusion,forthereal-worldapplications,GAispreferableratherthanMIPtoreachfeasiblesolutionsinshorttimeperiods.
1. Introduction
Open vehicle routing problems (OVRPs) have gained much
attention recently since they represent a problem type that
needstobesolvedbymanyproductioncompanies.Inmost
industries, companies choose to use a hired vehicle leet for
distributing their goods. In this way, they do not have to
endure the extra cost for returning vehicles since they use
theresourcesofathird-partylogistics(3PL)providersuchas
trucksorTIRs[1].Asconsequencesofsuchbeneits,however,
thecompanieshavetoacceptsomerestrictionsdeinedbythe
3PLproviders.Forexample,the3PLprovidercandetermine
some particular routes considering the experiences of the
drivers or the highway conditions. In addition, the 3PL
provider can restrict the number of customers visited by a
particular vehicle. Such speciications require some changes
intheclassicalOVRPstructuretomakethemmoreapplicable
forreal-worldproblems.
In this paper, we consider a real-world vehicle routing
problem for a production company. he company produces
twodiferenttypesofproducts(multipleproducts—MP)with
diferent volume and weight properties. he irst product is
a lightweight but large product, such as styrofoam, and the
second product has opposite volume-weight characteristics,
heavyweight but small product, such as tar. Since the com-
pany uses a leet of vehicles of a 3PL provider, the vehicles
donotneedtoreturntothedepot,andthus,theunderlying
problembecomesanopenvehicleroutingproblem(OVRP).
he3PLprovider hasaheterogeneousleetofvehicles, such
astrucksandTIRs(heterogeneousleet—HF),withdiferent
volumeandweightcapacities(multiplecapacitated—MC).In
addition,onanyroute,thevehiclescanservetwocustomers
atmost,andthedemandofacustomercanbesuppliedbydif-
ferentvehicles(splitdelivery—SD).Basedontheseproblem
speciications,weclassifyourproblemasamulticapacitated/
heterogeneous leet/open vehicle routing problem with split
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
e Scientific World Journal
Volume 2014, Article ID 515402, 14 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/515402