A New Approach Based on Simulation of Annealing to Solution of Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Routing Problem

Abstract

In this study, the problem of vehicle routing, which arises from supplying a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles with different capacities and features, is discussed. First, a two-level method has been developed to address the transport-carrying assignment and then the route approach. In the first stage of the proposed method, the transported persons are matched with the transported vehicles considering their suitability. In the second stage, the routing process is completed by using the simulated annealing algorithm, which is a metaheuristic method. The novelty aspect of this study is the creation of a solution model by simulating the scheduling model of parallel machines. The implementation of the study was carried out on the distribution plans obtained from a large-scale logistics company performing cost analysis over the total distance. The proposed solution model is compared with the solution method used by the firm and it is concluded that the total distance and the resulting costs are reduced.