Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem—Predictive and Unexpected Customer Availability

Abstract

The Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem (DVRP) is one of the most important problems in the area of enterprise logistics. DVRP problems involve these dynamics: the appearance of customers, travel times, service times, or vehicle availability. One of the most often considered aspects of the DVRP is the availability of customers, in which a part or all of the customers are revealed dynamically during the design or execution of the routes. A classification of the DVRP problem due to various elements causing dynamism is proposed. The aim of the paper is to distinguish dynamic VRP, which takes into account the dynamic appearance of customers to serve during the design or execution of the routes. In particular, the difference between the predictive and unexpected aspects of the customer’s availability is considered. Above all, the variant of customer’s availability which is predicted according to an appropriate general rule is modeled using the algebraic-logical meta-model (ALMM). It is a methodology which enables making collective decisions in successive process stages, not separately for individual vehicles. The algebraic-logical model of the dynamic vehicle routing problem with predicted consumer availability is proposed. The paper shows the possibilities of applying the ALMM approach to dynamic problems both with predicted and unexpected customer availability.