Modelling and Resolution of a Distribution Problem Considering Environmental Criteria

Abstract

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) is the challenge of finding the shortest yet most efficient route for a person to take given a list of specific destinations. It is an optimization problem in the fields of computer science and operations research. There are obviously a lot of different routes to choose from, but finding the best one the one that will require the least distance or costs, several researchers have spent decades trying to optimize the modeling and the resolution. In some real cases, the classical problem is not able to model the existing problem in a given company. In this paper, we propose models for the TSP, that can be used with linear or quadratic service time functions, and that embeds novel improved lower and upper bounds. With proposed models, the authors consider exponentially many sub-tour eliminations, capacities, and demands constraints, which are separated dynamically. The main purpose is to help the transport manager to select the optimal distribution circuit that optimizes various objectives.