Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Solving real-life vehicle routing problems efficiently using tabu search

  • Various Applications
  • Published:
Annals of Operations Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents a tabu search based method for finding good solutions to a real-life vehicle routing problem. The problem considered deals with some new features beyond those normally associated with the classical problems of the literature: in addition to capacity constraints for vehicles and time windows for deliveries, it takes the heterogeneous character of the fleet into account, in the sense that utilization costs are vehicle-dependent and that some accessibility restrictions have to be fulfilled. It also deals with the use of trailers. In spite of the intricacy of the problem, the proposed tabu search approach is easy to implement and can be easily adapted to many other applications. An emphasis is placed on means that have to be used to speed up the search. In a few minutes of computation on a personal workstation, our approach obtains solutions that are significantly better than those previously developed and implemented in practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. G.H. Bradley, G.G. Brown and G.W. Graves, Design and implementation of large scale primal transshipment algorithms, Manag. Sci. 24(1977)1.

    Google Scholar 

  2. D. Costa, A tabu search algorithm for computing an operational timetable, ORWP 90/91, DMA, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (1990), Eur. J. Oper. Res., to appear.

  3. M.L. Fisher and R. Jaikumar, A generalized assignment heuristic for vehicle routing, Networks 11(1981)109.

    Google Scholar 

  4. A. Hertz, Finding a feasible course schedule using tabu search, Publication 703, University of Montreal (1990).

  5. S. Lin, Computer solutions of the traveling salesman problem, Bell Syst. Tech. J. 44(1965)2245.

    Google Scholar 

  6. C.H. Papadimitriou and K. Steiglitz,Combinatorial Optimization Algorithms and Complexity (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  7. F. Semet, Problèmes de tournées de véhicules sous contraintes d'inaccessibilité, Internal Report, DMA, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (1991).

  8. M.M. Solomon, Algorithms for the vehicle routing and scheduling problems with time window constraints, Oper. Res. 35(1987)254.

    Google Scholar 

  9. E. Taillard, Parellel taboo search for the job shop scheduling problem, ORWP 89/11, DMA, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (1989), ORSA J. Comput., to appear.

  10. E. Taillard, Robust taboo search for the quadratic assignment problem, Parallel Comput. 17(1991)443.

    Google Scholar 

  11. M.L. Tricot and M. Donegani, Formules de réactualisation pour une famille d'indices de proximité inter-classe en classification hiérarchique, RAIRO Recherche Opérationnelle 23(1989)165.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Mathématiques, Chaire de Recherche Opérationnelle, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Frédéric Semet & Eric Taillard

Authors
  1. Frédéric Semet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eric Taillard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Semet, F., Taillard, E. Solving real-life vehicle routing problems efficiently using tabu search. Ann Oper Res 41, 469–488 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02023006

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02023006

Keywords

Search

Navigation