A heuristic algorithm for the routing and scheduling problem with time windows: A case study of the automotive industry in Mexico

Abstract

This paper investigates a real-world distribution problem arising in the vehicle production industry, particularly in a logistics company, in which cars and vans must be loaded on auto-carriers and then delivered to dealerships. A solution to the problem involves the loading and optimal routing, without violating the capacity and time window constraints for each auto-carrier. A two-phase heuristic algorithm was implemented to solve the problem. In the first phase the heuristic builds a route with an optimal insertion procedure, and in the second phase the determination of a feasible loading. The experimental results show that the purposed algorithm can be used to tackle the transportation problem in terms of minimizing total traveling distance, loading/unloading operations and transportation costs, facilitating a decision-making process for the logistics company.