A computer-enabled solution procedure for food wholesalers' distribution decision in cities with a circular transportation infrastructure

Authors:
Xiangpei Hu;Zheng Wang;Minfang Huang;Amy Z. Zeng
Affiliations:
School of Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning Province 116023, PR China;School of Software, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning Province 116620, PR China;School of Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning Province 116023, PR China;Department of Management, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
Venue:
Computers and Operations Research
Year:
2009

Citing 3
Cited 0

The vehicle routing problem

The vehicle routing problem
The open vehicle routing problem: Algorithms, large-scale test problems, and computational results

Computers and Operations Research
An Improved Ant Colony System and Its Application

Computational Intelligence and Security

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.01

Visualization

Abstract

This paper addresses the food distribution decision from a wholesaler's perspective, as the wholesalers are often faced with thorny issues such as when, where, how to deliver products at the lowest costs to best satisfy the retailers' changing needs. This research relies on a distribution problem encountered at Northern Grocery Company in Beijing as an example to develop a two-stage solution procedure and subsequent computer-enabled programs for identifying efficient vehicle routing alternatives. The solution process, which integrates heuristic search algorithms and an integer programming model, can be applied to a wide range of distribution problems with specified route durations and a circular transportation network structure as exemplified by City of Beijing.