Optimization model for vehicle routing and equipment replacement in farm machinery

Abstract

An equipment replacement decision takes into account economic engineering models based on discounted cash flow (DCF) such as the Annual Equivalent Cost (AEC). Despite a large number of researches on industrial assets replacement, there is a lack of studies applied to farm goods. This study aimed at assessing an alternative model for economic decision analysis on farm machinery replacement, with no restrictions on the number of replacements and assessed goods during a defined timeline. The results of the hybrid model based on the combination of the vehicle routing problem and the equipment replacement problem (RVPSE) applied to three different farm tractors showed the model reliability, providing a wider range of decisions for management support.