This paper presents a new Quantum Inspired Harmony Search algorithm with Variable Population Size QIHSVPS for a complex variant of vehicle routing problem (VRP), called HVRPMBTW (Vehicle Routing Problem with Heterogeneous fleet, Mixed Backhauls and Time Windows). This variant is characterized by...

Combinatorial optimization problems are broadly studied in the literature. On the one hand, their challenging characteristics, such as the constraints and number of potential solutions, inspires their use to test new solution techniques. On the other hand, the practical application of these...

Due to increasing population, increasing number of vehicles as well as environmental pollution, planning vehicles efficiently one of important problems nowadays. This article proposes a Multi-Objective Mixed Integer Programming (MOMIP) model for the vehicle-routing problem with time windows,...

The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) by considering Time Windows is an essential and a reality optimization problem consisting in the determination of the set of routes with minimum distance to carry goods, by using some vehicles with capacity constraint; vehicles must visit customers within a time...

This study addresses a household waste collection routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet. The collection fleet includes hand carts and vehicles to transport wastes from houses to disposal sites. The authors attempt to enhance the system efficiency considering lean policies, which leads to...

Purpose – The improvement of routing operations performance has been of great concern for organisations. This has led to the development of alternative lean-based methods, however the literature research on the applications of lean thinking in the transportation sector is still considered...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a problem-based learning (PBL) activity that uses a decision support system (DSS) to teach one of the most fundamental topics in distribution planning: vehicle routing. Design/methodology/approach – The authors describe their teaching...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an optimised scheduling system for facility mangers and custodians. Experience-driven systems currently in use can result in poor ratings for facility maintenance metrics such as overtime hours, utilisation difference and labour costs....

Although greedy algorithms are important, nowadays it is well assumed that the solutions they obtain can be used as a starting point for more sophisticated methods. This paper describes an evolutionary approach which is based on genetic algorithms (GA). A constructive heuristic, so-called fuzzy...