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Large Multiple Neighborhood Search for the Soft-Clustered Vehicle-Routing Problem

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  • Timo Hintsch

    (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)

Abstract

The soft-clustered vehicle-routing problem (SoftCluVRP) is a variant of the classical capacitated vehiclerouting problem. Customers are partitioned into clusters and all customers of the same cluster must be served by the same vehicle. In this paper, we present a large multiple neighborhood search for the SoftCluVRP. We design and analyze multiple cluster destroy and repair operators as well as two post-optimization components, which are both based on variable neighborhood descent. The first allows inter-route exchanges of complete clusters, while the second searches for intra-route improvements by combining classical neighborhoods (2- opt, Or-Opt, double-bridge) and the Balas-Simonetti neighborhood. Computational experiments show that our algorithm clearly outperforms the only existing heuristic approach from the literature. By solving benchmark instances, we provide 130 new best solutions for 220 medium-sized instances with up to 483 customers and prove 12 of them to be optimal.

Suggested Citation

  • Timo Hintsch, 2019. "Large Multiple Neighborhood Search for the Soft-Clustered Vehicle-Routing Problem," Working Papers 1904, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    • Handle: RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1904
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    File URL: https://download.uni-mainz.de/RePEc/pdf/Discussion_Paper_1904.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Timo Hintsch & Stefan Irnich, 2018. "Exact Solution of the Soft-Clustered Vehicle Routing Problem," Working Papers 1813, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    6. Hintsch, Timo & Irnich, Stefan, 2018. "Large multiple neighborhood search for the clustered vehicle-routing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 118-131.
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    Cited by:

    1. Katrin Heßler & Stefan Irnich, 2020. "A Branch-and-Cut Algorithm for the Soft-Clustered Vehicle-Routing Problem," Working Papers 2001, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vehicle Routing; Clustered Vehicle Routing; Large neighborhood search;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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