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A memetic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2008

Nacima Labadi ,
Christian Prins  and
Mohamed Reghioui
Nacima Labadi
Affiliation:
Inst. Charles Delaunay, Univ. Technologie Troyes, FRE CNRS 2848, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex, France; nacima.labadi@utt.fr, christian.prins@utt.fr, mohamed.reghioui_hamzaoui@utt.fr
Christian Prins
Affiliation:
Inst. Charles Delaunay, Univ. Technologie Troyes, FRE CNRS 2848, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex, France; nacima.labadi@utt.fr, christian.prins@utt.fr, mohamed.reghioui_hamzaoui@utt.fr
Mohamed Reghioui
Affiliation:
Inst. Charles Delaunay, Univ. Technologie Troyes, FRE CNRS 2848, BP 2060, 10010 Troyes Cedex, France; nacima.labadi@utt.fr, christian.prins@utt.fr, mohamed.reghioui_hamzaoui@utt.fr
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Abstract

This article deals with the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). This problem consists in determining a least-cost set of trips to serve customers during specific time windows. The proposed solution method is a memetic algorithm (MA), a genetic algorithm hybridised with a local search. Contrary to most papers on the VRPTW, which minimize first the number of vehicles, our method is also able to minimize the total distance travelled. The results on 56 classical instances are compared to those of the best metaheuristics. The efficiency of the MA is similar for the classical criterion, but it becomes the best algorithm available for the total distance, being much faster and improving 20 best-known solutions.

Keywords

memetic algorithmvehicle routing problemtime window.
Type
Research Article
Information
RAIRO - Operations Research , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 415 - 431
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, ROADEF, SMAI, 2008

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