IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ortrsc/v41y2007i3p319-331.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Service Requests from Known Customer Locations

Author

Listed:
  • Barrett W. Thomas

    (Department of Management Sciences, University of Iowa, 108 John Pappajohn Business Building, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1994)

Abstract

This paper considers a dynamic and stochastic routing problem in which information about customer locations and probabilistic information about future service requests are used to maximize the expected number of customers served by a single uncapacitated vehicle. The problem is modeled as a Markov decision process, and analytical results on the structure of the optimal policy are derived. For the case of a single dynamic customer, we completely characterize the optimal policy. Using the analytical results, we propose a real-time heuristic and demonstrate its effectiveness compared with a series of other intuitively appealing heuristics. We also use computational tests to determine the heuristic value of knowing both customer locations and probabilistic information about future service requests.

Suggested Citation

  • Barrett W. Thomas, 2007. "Waiting Strategies for Anticipating Service Requests from Known Customer Locations," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 319-331, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:41:y:2007:i:3:p:319-331
    DOI: 10.1287/trsc.1060.0183
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/trsc.1060.0183
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/trsc.1060.0183?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michel Gendreau & François Guertin & Jean-Yves Potvin & Éric Taillard, 1999. "Parallel Tabu Search for Real-Time Vehicle Routing and Dispatching," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 381-390, November.
    2. Thomas, Barrett W. & White III, Chelsea C., 2007. "The dynamic shortest path problem with anticipation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(2), pages 836-854, January.
    3. Dimitris J. Bertsimas & Garrett van Ryzin, 1991. "A Stochastic and Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem in the Euclidean Plane," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 39(4), pages 601-615, August.
    4. Bertsimas, Dimitris & Van Ryzin, Garrett., 1991. "A stochastic and dynamic vehicle routing problem in the Euclidean plane," Working papers 3286-91., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    5. Swihart, Michael R. & Papastavrou, Jason D., 1999. "A stochastic and dynamic model for the single-vehicle pick-up and delivery problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(3), pages 447-464, May.
    6. Soumia Ichoua & Michel Gendreau & Jean-Yves Potvin, 2006. "Exploiting Knowledge About Future Demands for Real-Time Vehicle Dispatching," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(2), pages 211-225, May.
    7. Dimitris J. Bertsimas & Garrett van Ryzin, 1993. "Stochastic and Dynamic Vehicle Routing in the Euclidean Plane with Multiple Capacitated Vehicles," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 41(1), pages 60-76, February.
    8. A. W. J. Kolen & A. H. G. Rinnooy Kan & H. W. J. M. Trienekens, 1987. "Vehicle Routing with Time Windows," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 266-273, April.
    9. Barrett W. Thomas & Chelsea C. White, 2004. "Anticipatory Route Selection," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(4), pages 473-487, November.
    10. A Larsen & O Madsen & M Solomon, 2002. "Partially dynamic vehicle routing—models and algorithms," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 53(6), pages 637-646, June.
    11. Warren B. Powell, 1996. "A Stochastic Formulation of the Dynamic Assignment Problem, with an Application to Truckload Motor Carriers," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 195-219, August.
    12. Ghiani, Gianpaolo & Guerriero, Francesca & Laporte, Gilbert & Musmanno, Roberto, 2003. "Real-time vehicle routing: Solution concepts, algorithms and parallel computing strategies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(1), pages 1-11, November.
    13. Warren B. Powell & Yosef Sheffi & Kenneth S. Nickerson & Kevin Butterbaugh & Susan Atherton, 1988. "Maximizing Profits for North American Van Lines' Truckload Division: A New Framework for Pricing and Operations," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 21-41, February.
    14. Soumia Ichoua & Michel Gendreau & Jean-Yves Potvin, 2000. "Diversion Issues in Real-Time Vehicle Dispatching," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 426-438, November.
    15. Mitrovic-Minic, Snezana & Krishnamurti, Ramesh & Laporte, Gilbert, 2004. "Double-horizon based heuristics for the dynamic pickup and delivery problem with time windows," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 669-685, September.
    16. Mitrovic-Minic, Snezana & Laporte, Gilbert, 2004. "Waiting strategies for the dynamic pickup and delivery problem with time windows," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 635-655, August.
    17. Russell W. Bent & Pascal Van Hentenryck, 2004. "Scenario-Based Planning for Partially Dynamic Vehicle Routing with Stochastic Customers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 977-987, December.
    18. Yvan Dumas & Jacques Desrosiers & Eric Gelinas & Marius M. Solomon, 1995. "An Optimal Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 43(2), pages 367-371, April.
    19. Jürgen Branke & Martin Middendorf & Guntram Noeth & Maged Dessouky, 2005. "Waiting Strategies for Dynamic Vehicle Routing," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(3), pages 298-312, August.
    20. Harilaos N. Psaraftis & John N. Tsitsiklis, 1993. "Dynamic Shortest Paths in Acyclic Networks with Markovian Arc Costs," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 41(1), pages 91-101, February.
    21. Allan Larsen & Oli B. G. Madsen & Marius M. Solomon, 2004. "The A Priori Dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem with Time Windows," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(4), pages 459-472, November.
    22. Papastavrou, Jason D., 1996. "A stochastic and dynamic routing policy using branching processes with state dependent immigration," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 167-177, November.
    23. Marius M. Solomon, 1987. "Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problems with Time Window Constraints," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 254-265, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Jian & Woensel, Tom Van, 2023. "Dynamic vehicle routing with random requests: A literature review," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    2. Soeffker, Ninja & Ulmer, Marlin W. & Mattfeld, Dirk C., 2022. "Stochastic dynamic vehicle routing in the light of prescriptive analytics: A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 298(3), pages 801-820.
    3. Pillac, Victor & Gendreau, Michel & Guéret, Christelle & Medaglia, Andrés L., 2013. "A review of dynamic vehicle routing problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 225(1), pages 1-11.
    4. Marlin W. Ulmer & Dirk C. Mattfeld & Felix Köster, 2018. "Budgeting Time for Dynamic Vehicle Routing with Stochastic Customer Requests," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 20-37, January.
    5. Gianpaolo Ghiani & Emanuele Manni & Barrett W. Thomas, 2012. "A Comparison of Anticipatory Algorithms for the Dynamic and Stochastic Traveling Salesman Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 374-387, August.
    6. Jürgen Branke & Martin Middendorf & Guntram Noeth & Maged Dessouky, 2005. "Waiting Strategies for Dynamic Vehicle Routing," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(3), pages 298-312, August.
    7. Marlin W. Ulmer & Justin C. Goodson & Dirk C. Mattfeld & Marco Hennig, 2019. "Offline–Online Approximate Dynamic Programming for Dynamic Vehicle Routing with Stochastic Requests," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(1), pages 185-202, February.
    8. Nikola Mardešić & Tomislav Erdelić & Tonči Carić & Marko Đurasević, 2023. "Review of Stochastic Dynamic Vehicle Routing in the Evolving Urban Logistics Environment," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-44, December.
    9. Lars M. Hvattum & Arne Løkketangen & Gilbert Laporte, 2006. "Solving a Dynamic and Stochastic Vehicle Routing Problem with a Sample Scenario Hedging Heuristic," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(4), pages 421-438, November.
    10. Barrett W. Thomas & Chelsea C. White, 2004. "Anticipatory Route Selection," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(4), pages 473-487, November.
    11. Soumia Ichoua & Michel Gendreau & Jean-Yves Potvin, 2006. "Exploiting Knowledge About Future Demands for Real-Time Vehicle Dispatching," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(2), pages 211-225, May.
    12. Russell W. Bent & Pascal Van Hentenryck, 2004. "Scenario-Based Planning for Partially Dynamic Vehicle Routing with Stochastic Customers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 977-987, December.
    13. Diego Muñoz-Carpintero & Doris Sáez & Cristián E. Cortés & Alfredo Núñez, 2015. "A Methodology Based on Evolutionary Algorithms to Solve a Dynamic Pickup and Delivery Problem Under a Hybrid Predictive Control Approach," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(2), pages 239-253, May.
    14. Xiong Hao & Yan Huili, 2019. "General Method of Building a Real-Time Optimization Policy for Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 7(6), pages 584-598, December.
    15. Zhang, Jian & Luo, Kelin & Florio, Alexandre M. & Van Woensel, Tom, 2023. "Solving large-scale dynamic vehicle routing problems with stochastic requests," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 596-614.
    16. Cristián E. Cortés & Doris Sáez & Alfredo Núñez & Diego Muñoz-Carpintero, 2009. "Hybrid Adaptive Predictive Control for a Dynamic Pickup and Delivery Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 27-42, February.
    17. Jian Yang & Patrick Jaillet & Hani Mahmassani, 2004. "Real-Time Multivehicle Truckload Pickup and Delivery Problems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(2), pages 135-148, May.
    18. Miguel Andres Figliozzi & Hani S. Mahmassani & Patrick Jaillet, 2007. "Pricing in Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problems," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 302-318, August.
    19. Cheung, Bernard K.-S. & Choy, K.L. & Li, Chung-Lun & Shi, Wenzhong & Tang, Jian, 2008. "Dynamic routing model and solution methods for fleet management with mobile technologies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 694-705, June.
    20. Ghiani, Gianpaolo & Guerriero, Francesca & Laporte, Gilbert & Musmanno, Roberto, 2003. "Real-time vehicle routing: Solution concepts, algorithms and parallel computing strategies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(1), pages 1-11, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:41:y:2007:i:3:p:319-331. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.