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A Heuristic Algorithm for the Auto-Carrier Transportation Problem

Author

Listed:
  • R. Tadei

    (D.A.I., Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy)

  • G. Perboli

    (D.A.I., Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy)

  • F. Della Croce

    (D.A.I., Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy)

Abstract

The delivery of vehicles to dealers is one of the major tasks in the vehicle production industry. It has relied on transportation companies that use special tractor-trailer trucks called auto-carriers. One of the main problems these companies have to solve is the optimal loading and routing of the auto-carriers, referred to as the Auto-Carrier Transportation (ACT) problem. In this paper we provide an integer programming formulation of the ACT problem and show that the problem is NP -hard in the strong sense. A three-step heuristic procedure stronglybased on the IP formulation, which considers loading, vehicle selection, and routing aspects, is proposed. An application to a real case studyof a vehicle transportation company located in northern Italyis given, with an average deviation lower than 3% from an upper bound on the optimal solution value.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Tadei & G. Perboli & F. Della Croce, 2002. "A Heuristic Algorithm for the Auto-Carrier Transportation Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 55-62, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:36:y:2002:i:1:p:55-62
    DOI: 10.1287/trsc.36.1.55.567
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Irnich, Stefan, 2000. "A multi-depot pickup and delivery problem with a single hub and heterogeneous vehicles," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 310-328, April.
    2. K Fagerholt & M Christiansen, 2000. "A combined ship scheduling and allocation problem," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 51(7), pages 834-842, July.
    3. M. W. P. Savelsbergh & M. Sol, 1995. "The General Pickup and Delivery Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 17-29, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cordeau, Jean-François & Dell’Amico, Mauro & Falavigna, Simone & Iori, Manuel, 2015. "A rolling horizon algorithm for auto-carrier transportation," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 68-80.
    2. Mauro Dell’Amico & Simone Falavigna & Manuel Iori, 2015. "Optimization of a Real-World Auto-Carrier Transportation Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(2), pages 402-419, May.
    3. Chen, Feng & Wang, Yu, 2020. "Downward compatible loading optimization with inter-set cost in automobile outbound logistics," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(1), pages 106-118.
    4. Manuel Iori & Silvano Martello, 2010. "Routing problems with loading constraints," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 18(1), pages 4-27, July.
    5. Jäck, Christian & Gönsch, Jochen, 2024. "How to load your auto carrier. A hybrid packing approach for the auto-carrier loading problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 315(3), pages 1167-1181.
    6. Perboli, Guido & Tadei, Roberto & Gobbato, Luca, 2014. "The Multi-Handler Knapsack Problem under Uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 236(3), pages 1000-1007.
    7. Sun, Yanshuo & Kirtonia, Sajeeb & Chen, Zhi-Long, 2021. "A survey of finished vehicle distribution and related problems from an optimization perspective," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    8. Christian Billing & Florian Jaehn & Thomas Wensing, 2018. "A multiperiod auto-carrier transportation problem with probabilistic future demands," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(7), pages 1009-1028, September.
    9. Wang, Yu & Chen, Feng & Chen, Zhi-Long, 2018. "Pickup and delivery of automobiles from warehouses to dealers," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 117(PA), pages 412-430.
    10. Mingzhou Jin & Sandra Eksioglu & Burak Eksioglu & Haiyuan Wang, 2010. "Mode Selection for Automotive Distribution with Quantity Discounts," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, March.
    11. Kim, Jindae & Ok, Chang-Soo & Kumara, Soundar & Yee, Shang-Tae, 2010. "A market-based approach for dynamic vehicle deployment planning using radio frequency identification (RFID) information," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 235-247, November.
    12. Bonassa, Antonio Carlos & Cunha, Claudio Barbieri da & Isler, Cassiano Augusto, 2023. "A multi-start local search heuristic for the multi-period auto-carrier loading and transportation problem in Brazil," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(1), pages 193-211.

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