A partition approach to the inventory/routing problem

A partition approach to the inventory/routing problem

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Article ID: iaor20084235
Country: Netherlands
Volume: 177
Issue: 2
Start Page Number: 786
End Page Number: 802
Publication Date: Mar 2007
Journal: European Journal of Operational Research
Authors: , ,
Keywords: heuristics: tabu search, vehicle routing & scheduling
Abstract:

In this study we focus on the integration of inventory control and vehicle routing schedules for a distribution system in which the warehouse is responsible for the replenishment of a single item to the retailers with demands occurring at a specific constant (but retailer-dependent) rate, combining deliveries into efficient routes. This research proposes a fixed partition policy for this type of problem, in which the replenishment interval of each of the retailers' partition region as well as the warehouse is accorded the power of two principle. A lower bound of the long-run average cost of any feasible strategy for the considered distribution system is drawn. And a tabu search algorithm is designed to find the retailers' optimal partition regions under the fixed partition policy proposed. Computational results reveal the effectiveness of the policy as well as of the algorithm.

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