A Heuristic Approach to Support Route Planning for Delivery and Installation of Furniture: A Case Study

Inês A. Ferreira; Catarina Bento; Luís Mascarenhas; Carina Pimentel; Helena Carvalho

doi:10.3390/app13053285

A Heuristic Approach to Support Route Planning for Delivery and Installation of Furniture: A Case Study

Inês A. Ferreira, Catarina Bento, Luís Mascarenhas, Carina Pimentel, Helena Carvalho

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Abstract

The number of variants of the vehicle routing problem (VRP) has grown rapidly in the last decades. Among these, VRPs with time window constraints are among the most studied ones. However, the literature regarding VRPs that concerns the delivery and installation of products is scarce. The main aim of this study was to propose a heuristic approach for the route planning process of a company whose focus is on furniture delivery and assembly and, thus, contributing to the research around the Delivery and Installation Routing Problem. The case study method was used, and two scenarios were compared: the current scenario (showing the routes created by the company worker); and the future scenario (representing the routes created by the heuristic). Results show that the proposed heuristic approach provided a feasible solution to the problem, allowing it to affect customers and teams without compromising the teams’ competencies and respecting all constraints.

Original language	English
Article number	3285
Number of pages	23
Journal	Applied Sciences
Volume	13
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/app13053285
Publication status	Published - 4 Mar 2023

Keywords

delivery and assembly routes
heuristics
last-mile delivery
logistics
vehicle routing problem

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A Heuristic Approach toFinal published version, 1.92 MBLicence: CC BY

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abstract = "The number of variants of the vehicle routing problem (VRP) has grown rapidly in the last decades. Among these, VRPs with time window constraints are among the most studied ones. However, the literature regarding VRPs that concerns the delivery and installation of products is scarce. The main aim of this study was to propose a heuristic approach for the route planning process of a company whose focus is on furniture delivery and assembly and, thus, contributing to the research around the Delivery and Installation Routing Problem. The case study method was used, and two scenarios were compared: the current scenario (showing the routes created by the company worker); and the future scenario (representing the routes created by the heuristic). Results show that the proposed heuristic approach provided a feasible solution to the problem, allowing it to affect customers and teams without compromising the teams{\textquoteright} competencies and respecting all constraints.",

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A Heuristic Approach to Support Route Planning for Delivery and Installation of Furniture: A Case Study

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