A simulated annealing with variable neighborhood descent approach for the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem with multiple forward/reverse cross-docks

• Main Authors: YU, Vincent F., ANH, Pham Tuan, GUNAWAN, Aldy, HAN, Hsun
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Forward/reverse logistics; Heterogeneous fleet; Multiple cross-docks; Simulated annealing; Variable neighborhood descent; Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/8223
• Institution: Singapore Management University

With a greater awareness of the challenges regarding environmental, societal, political, and economic factors, where reverse logistics has become a significant part of supply chain networks, this paper presents an integrated forward and reverse logistics network, named the Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Routing Problem with Multiple Forward/Reverse Cross-Docks (HF-VRPMFRCD). We consider a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles with different loading capacities and transportation costs. We also consider multiple cross-docks with two different operations: forward and reverse processes. The former focuses on delivering the demand from suppliers to customers, while the latter aims at returning unsold products from customers to suppliers. We propose a Simulated Annealing with Variable Neighborhood Descent (SAVND) algorithm for solving HF-VRPMFRCD, where Variable Neighborhood Descent (VND) is a local search heuristic embedded in the framework of Simulated Annealing (SA). SAVND outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithm in solving the Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Routing Problem with Multiple Cross-Docks (HF-VRPMCD), where the VND heuristic significantly improves the quality of solutions. For HF-VRPMFRCD benchmark instances, SAVND provides optimal solutions for small-scale instances and better solutions than those of the GUROBI solver for remaining larger instances. Lastly, we present and discuss the benefits of integrating the forward and reverse processes.