Tabu search algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows, heterogeneous fleet, and accessibility restrictions

Abstract

Hospitals or the other health service providers usually assign a third party service provider to manage their solid medical waste. In our case, it is known that the third party service’s transportation cost is too expensive. Through the analysis, it is found that the main problem lies in determining solid medical waste pick-up routes. In this research, a new method to determine pick-up routes will be proposed. The route proposed will minimize the company’s transportation cost. In this case, the clients have their opening hours, the third party service providers has several kinds of vehicle, and there are accessibility restrictions for certain vehicle. The problem is known as VRPHETW with accessibility restrictions. The mathematical model and 2-phased tabu search will be used to solve this problem. The result shows that our proposed route is better than the existing route.