The Vehicle Routing Problem with Multiple Deliverymen via Mathematical Programming

• Grant number: 10/16998-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2010
• End date: November 30, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Operational Research
• Principal Investigator: Vitória Maria Miranda Pureza
• Grantee: Amanda Beeby Monteiro de Barros
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 10/10133-0 - Cutting, packing, lot-sizing and scheduling problems and their integration in industrial and logistics settings, AP.TEM

Abstract

The goal of this Project is to study the models and methods of resolution of The Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window and Multiple Deliverymen (VRPTW-MD). In this problem it is considered a variation of the vehicle routing problem with time window (VRPTW) where, besides the usual decisions of routing and programming, it is also designated to each route an amount of deliverymen. These extra men usually reduce the service time, allowing that a bigger number of clients be visited without violating the legal working shift.The combinatory nature of the VRPTW makes this problem difficult to solve (NP-hard) and therefore it is reasonable to expect that the additional decision about the number of deliverymen will make the VRPTW-MD as much as hard. Although there are plenty of studies and discussions about the VRPTW , preliminary bibliographic researches indicate that this variation has been little or not studied at all. That is why the current paper wants to deepen the studies in this subject, particularly focused in models and methods of mathematical programming.