International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, Volume 5(1), ISSN 2394-9333
www.ijtrd.com
An Optimization Model for Solving Time-dependent
Pick-up and Delivery Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing
Problem in Food Logistic
1
Irvan and 2Herman Mawengkang,
1
Departement of Mathematics, University Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
2
Department of Mathematics, University of Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
Abstract—Vehicle routing problem (VRP) is a well known
model in logistic systems, such as food logistic. The model can
be used to decide which route should be chosen by the fleet of
homogeny vehicle in a way to minimize operational costs.
However in practice, it is more practical to use vehicle with
different type and capacity, known as heterogeneous VRP.
The Pickup and Delivery (PD) problem of Vehicle Routing is a
further generalization of the VRP, as well as the HVRP, in
which each customer demand is delivered with the associated
vehicle and simultaneously pickup particular good from the
customer. This paper considers a food logistic distribution
problem in which the problem has a suitable structure as the
HVRPPD. We use mixed integer nonlinear program to obtain
the optimal decision of the problem. A neighborhood search
approach is developed for solving the result model.
Keywords—Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing Problem,
Logistic, Neighborhood search, Mixed Integer Nonlinear
Programming.
I. INTRODUCTION
The vehicle routing problem (VRP) is an interesting topic
to be explored due to its combinatorial nature of the problem,
which makes the problem tractable [1], and its wide
applications to the real world logistic system. This statement is
scientifically reasonable as it can be observed that since its
introduction due to [2]Dantzig and Ramsey (1959) there are a
lot of literatures have been published to discuss development
of methods to be used, applications and variety of its problem
structure ([3], [4], [5], [6], and [7]).
In classical VRP the vehicle used to deliver demands for
the customers is assumed homogeny . However, in most
practical logistic problems, customer demands are served using
a fleet of heterogeneous vehicles (see, e.g., [8] Hoff et
al.,2010). This situation could create fleet dimensioning or
composition problem and it is necessary to decide the trade-off
between owning and keeping a fleet and subcontracting. These
decisions should involve several variables such as
transportation rates, transportation costs and expected demand.
In VRP terms the use of heterogeneous vehicles are called
heterogeneous VRP (HVRP). Therefore the objective of the
HVRP is to find fleet composition and a corresponding routing
plan that minimizes the total cost.
HVRPs are rooted in the seminal paper of [9] Golden et
al. (1984) and have evolved into a rich research area, in
developing methods and applications. [10] Baldacci et al.
(2008) provided a general overview of papers with a particular
focus on lower bounding techniques and heuristics. The
authors also compared the performance of existing heuristics
described until 2008 on benchmark instances. [11] Baldacci et
al. (2010) presented a review of exact algorithms and a
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comparison of their computational performance on the
capacitated VRP and HVRPs, while [8] Hoff et al. (2010)
reviewed several industrial aspects of combined fleet
composition and routing in sea transportation and road-based
transportation. A comprehensive review for HVRP can be
found in [12] Koc et al. (2016).
Due to the combinatorial nature of the VRP it is
reasonable that the most approach addressed for solving the
HVRP is heuristics. [13] Liu and Shen (1999) were the first to
tackle the HVRP and developed a number of parallel insertions
heuristics. [14] Braysy et al. (2008) presented a deterministic
simulated annealing meta heuristic for the HVRP with time
windows, outperforming the results of [13] (Liu and Shen
(1999), and then [15] Braysy et al. (2009) developed a linearly
scalable hybrid threshold-accepting and guided local search
meta heuristic for solving large scale HVRPTW instances. [16]
Coelho et al. (2016) designed a trajectory search heuristic to
solve a large-scale HVRPTW in which the vehicles are
allowed to have multi-trips. [17] Imran et al. (2009) use a
variable neighborhood-based heuristics for solving the
problem. [18] Jiang et al. (2015) developed a tabu search for
solving HVRPTW, and they conducted the approach on a large
set of test cases. [19] Subramaniam et al. (2012) proposed a
hybrid algorithm for the problem. Their algorithm is composed
by an Iterrated Local Search based heuristic and a Set
Partitioning formulation. [20] Yousefikhoshbakht et al. (2016)
described a modified column generation to solve HVRPTW.
The Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows
(PDVRPTW) is a further generalization of the VRPTW in
which each customer request is associated with two locations:
an origin location where a certain demand must be picked up
and a destination where this demand must be delivered. Each
route must also satisfy pairing and precedence constraints: for
each request, the origin must precede the destination, and both
locations must be visited by the same vehicle. The VRPTW
can be seen as a special case of the PDVRPTW in which all
requests have a common origin which corresponds to the depot
[21] (Wassan and Nagy, 2014).
Since it generalizes the VRPTW, the PDVRPTW is
clearly NP-hard. Two main approaches have been used to
solve the PDVRPTW exactly: branch-and-price and branch-
and-cut. Branch-and-price methods (see, e.g., [22] Barnhart et
al., 1998). [23] Desaulniers et al. (1998) use a branch-and-
bound scheme in which lower bounds are computed by column
generation. The first branch-and-price algorithm for the
PDVRPTW was proposed by [24] Dumas et al. (1991) who
considered a set partitioning formulation of the problem in
which each column corresponds to a feasible vehicle route and
each constraint is associated to a request that must be satisfied
exactly once. The resulting pricing subproblem is a shortest
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path problem with time window, capacity, pairing and
precedence constraints. This problem is solvable by dynamic
programming and the authors used an algorithm similar to the
one developed by [25] Desrosiers et al. (1986) for the single-
vehicle pickup and delivery problem with time windows.
Several label elimination methods were proposed to accelerate
the dynamic programming algorithm, and arc elimination rules
were used to reduce the size of the problem. The authors
pointed out that their approach works well when the demand of
each customer is large with respect to vehicle capacity.
[26] Cortes et al. (2010) proposed an exact branch-and-
cut (B&C) algorithm for the PDVRPTW, which utilizes
Benders combinatorial cuts. The proposed cuts could provide
significant CPU time savings, but the algorithm so far was
limited to solving instances with up to six requests. Another
exact approach is addressed by [27] Ropke and Cordeau
(2009) who introduce a new branch-and-cut-and-price
algorithm for solving PDVRPTW. They generate lower bound
needed in the algorithm through column generation the linear
programming relaxation. Another branch-and-cut approach,
based on a two-index formulation, was proposed by [28] Lu
and Dessouky (2004). This formulation contains a polynomial
number of constraints, but relies on extra variables to impose
pairing and precedence constraints. For reviews on pickup and
delivery problems, the reader is referred to the works of [29]
Savelsbergh and Sol (1995), [30] Desaulniers et al. (2002) and
[3] Cordeau et al. (2007).
The service company focused in this paper has various
type of vehicle in its operation to deliver demands for
customers. Each type of vehicle has different capacities to
deliver demand and pickup container from customers. The
problem faced by the company can then be called HVRP with
pickup and delivery (HVRPPD). Due to the condition of the
customers‘ demand to be delivered the company put a strict
time limit in terms of the arrival time to each customer. This
condition has an impact to the delivery cost.
II. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
This paper considers daily scheduling problem of several
vehicles with different capacity of a food company to deliver
container of food materials FM) to a customer and to pick up
empty container (EC) from the customer.
To describe the problem mathematically let the distribution
network be expressed as a directed graph G  ( , ) , with
  {0,1,..., n} represents the vertex set of customers
involved except for   {0} and   {n} represent depot
(the center for distribution).   {(i, j ) : i, j  ,i  j}
states the set of route to be travelled by the vehicles used. It is
necessary that for each route (i, j )  a travel cost cij is
defined. All vehicle to be used are located at the distribution
center. Let  c be the set of customers‘ vertex, it is assumed
that each customer has a known fixed daily demand qi (  0
) , a service time si (  0 ) , and a limited service time
windows [ai,bi] At the depot qi  qn  0 and also for the
service time si  sn  0 .
Let a fleet of K vehicles composed by m different type of
vehicles, each with capacity Qm is located at the depot. The
number of vehicles available for vehicle type m is n m. A
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vehicle of type m which depends on the load capacity Qm
leaves the depot to serve customer‘s demand with route
{(i, j ), i V , j V \{0}} . On the arrival of customer
j ( j V \{0}) , the vehicle delivers the demand D j of FM
to the customer and pickup Pj of EC. The vehicle visits a
number of customers (at most once) and after finishing its job
returns to the depot. It is assumed that the travelling cost is a
fixed cost which consists of cost per travel unit (km) and cost
per load unit (kg), which actually depends on the distance of
location. This travelling cost is denoted with
cij (i V , j V \{0}) . At the depot dispatching costs
dci (i {0},{n}) are incurred. The other cost incurred in the
problem is a penalty cost, ( pci ) , due to the lateness of the
arrival to a customer i (i V \{0}) and/or the departure from
a customer i (i V \{0}) .
At the depot, a time window for vehicles to leave and to
return to depot is given by [a0, b0]. The arrival time of a
vehicle at customer i is denoted by ai and its departure time is
bi . Each route originates and terminates at the central depot
and must satisfy the time window constraints, i.e., a vehicle
cannot start servicing customer i before ai and after bi
however, the vehicle can arrive before ai and wait for service.
III. MATHEMATICAL MODEL FORMULATION
The decision variables consist of binary variables and
continuous variables.
Binary variables.
xojk  1 if vehicle k  K travels from depot to customer
j V \{0} , otherwise x0 jk  0
xijm  1 if vehicle of type m  K m is to deliver from
customer i V to customer j V \{0} , i  j otherwise
xijm  0 .
zijk = 1 if vehicle k  K does not arrive in time at customer
j V \{0} from i V , i  j , otherwise zijk  0 .
Non-negative continuous variables
W0k Load of vehicle k  K when leaving the depot.
Wj Load of vehicle upon leaving customer node
j V \{0} .
lim Arrival time for vehicle type m  K m at customer
i V \{0}
uim Duration of service of vehicle type m  K m at
customer i V \{0}
The main target of the manager is to use the available
vehicle for each type efficiently, such that the total cost is
minimized, the pick-up and delivery conditions are met, and
the scheduled time is satisfied.
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The objective or the problem is to minimize the total cost one, respectively. Constraints (8) state the vehicle load
which consists of traveling cost of all vehicle used, the restrictions associated with initial vehicle loads. Constraints
dispatching cost and the penalty cost in the planning horizon (9) ensure that each delivery does not exceed the capacity of
time of a day. each type of vehicle. Constraints (10 ) and (11) present vehicle
loads after the first customer and vehicle loads on the way,
Minimize dc
respectively, with M is a large constant number chosen
𝑗 ∈𝑉{0,𝑛} 𝑘∈𝐾 𝑥0𝑗𝑘 + 𝑖,𝑗 ∈𝑉{0},𝑖≠𝑗 𝑚 ∈𝐾𝑚 𝑐𝑖𝑗𝑚 𝑥𝑖𝑗𝑚 + arbitrarily. Constraints (12) and (13) present time window as
𝑖∈𝑉{0} 𝑗 ∈𝑉{0},𝑖≠𝑗 𝑘∈𝐾 𝑝𝑐𝑖 𝑧𝑖𝑗𝑘 (1) the committed scheduled time-dependent for each customer
Constraint (14) guarantees that the number availability of
Subject to active vehicle does not exceed the number of vehicle available
at the central depot. Constraint (15) represents the consistency

kK
x0 jk 1, j V \{0} (2) of load variable. The conditions for penalty are expressed in
Constraints (16), (17), and (18).


iV \{0}
xi 0 k  1 k  K (3) It can be observed that the model formulated in expressions
(1) – (18) is in the form of large scale Mixed Integer Nonlinear

  xijk 1,
Programming (MINLP).
j V \{0}, i  j (4)
iV \{0} kK
IV. THE METHOD USED


iV \{0}
xihk  
jV \{0}
xhjk h V \{0}, k  K , i  h  j Stage 0.
Solve the relaxation of model (1) to (18), as a large scale
(5) nonlinear programming.


jV \{0}
x1 jk  1; k  K (6) If all variables in the continuous optimal solution is integer
valued, the optimal integer solution to the problem (1) to (18)
is found. STOP.

iV \{0},i 1
xi1k  1; k  K (7) Otherwise go to Stage 1.
Stage 1.
Wok    Di xijk k  K (8) In this Stage we use a hybrid strategy, heuristic approach and
iV jV \{0} exact method.

D 
Step 1. Heuristic
i xijm  Qm m K m (9) Get row i* the smallest integer infeasibility, such that
iV jV \{0}
 i*  min{ fi ,1  fi }
W j  W0k  D j  Pj  M (1  xojk ) j V \{0}, k  K
(This choice is motivated by the desire for minimal
(10) deterioration in the objective function, and clearly corresponds
W j  Wi  D j  Pj  M (1   xijk ) i V \{0}, j V \{0}, i  j to the integer basic with smallest integer infeasibility).
kK
Step 2. Exact method
(11)
Do a pricing operation
lim  ai  xijm ; m  K m , i V (12) T 1
vi*  ei* B
T
jVc
  vi* j
T

Step 3. Calculate ij
ai 
jV \{0}
xijm  lim  uim  bi 
jV \{0}
xij m  K m , i  V \{0}, i  j With 𝑗 corresponds to

(13)  d j 
min  

jV \{0}
xojm  nm m  K m (14) j
  ij 
Calculate the maximum movement of nonbasic j at lower
Wjk  (Wik  q j ) xijk i V , j V \{0}, k  K , i  j (15) bound and upper bound.

 z
Otherwise go to next non-integer nonbasic or
ijk 1 (16) superbasic j (if available). Eventually the column j* is to be
i , jV \{0},i  j kK
increased form LB or decreased from UB. If none go to next
lik  ai zijk i, j V \{0}, i  j, k  K (17) i*.
Step 4.
uik  bi zijk i, j V \{0}, i  j, k  K (18) Solve Bj* = j* for j*
Step 5. Do ratio test for the basic variables in order to stay
Constraints (2) and (3)) are to ensure that exactly one feasible due to the releasing of nonbasic j* from its bounds.
vehicle regardless their type enters and departs from every Step 6. Exchange basis
customer and from the central depot.and comes back to the Step 7. If row i* = {} go to Stage 2, otherwise
depot. Constraints (4) is necessary to make sure that each Repeat from step 1.
customer is served by one and only one vehicle. Constraints Stage 2. Heuristic
(5) is to ensure that the same vehicle enters and leaves each Pass1 : adjust integer infeasible superbasics by fractional steps
customer and proceeds the continuity of route. Constraints (6) to reach complete integer feasibility.
and (7) present the availability of vehicles by bounding the Pass2 : adjust integer feasible superbasics. The objective of
number of route, related to vehicle k for each type, directly this phase is to conduct a highly localized neighbourhood
leaving from and returning to the central depot, not more than search to verify local optimality.

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 International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, Volume 5(1), ISSN 2394-9333
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CONCLUSIONS
The food company, considered in this paper, has a lot of
customers to be served with a variety of volume of food
container. Therefore the company needs several type of vehicle
to carry out the deliveries and then to pickup empty container
from the customer. This paper is to develop a model of
Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing with Time Windows Problem
This model is used for solving the food logistic problem of a
company located in Medan city, Indonesia. The result model is
in the form of mixed integer non linear programming problem.
We solve the model using a hybrid of heuristic and exact
method.
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