Multi-Objective Green 4-Dimensional Transportation Problem for Incompatible Damageable Items with Optimum Use of Transport Vehicles’ Space

Abstract

In the transportation system, an item is transported from sources to destinations. In this process, as well as the weight of the items volume of the items also plays a crucial role in obtaining minimum objectives. In general, one of these constraints becomes binding. Few transportation problems (TPs) have been formulated with the restriction on vehicle volume capacity. Surface transport is one of the most powerful carbon emitters, which leads to global climate change. Thus, in addition to the usual travel cost and time minimization, carbon emission (CE) minimization and maximum vehicle space utilization should also be considered. A TP for damageable and incompatible items in a multi-objective green 4-dimensional environment is presented in this paper. The model is developed with four objectives: minimizing transportation cost, transportation time, vehicles’ vacant space, and carbon emission amount. The model is solved by six multi-objective optimization methods, and their results are compared. A multi-criteria decision-making method, “MetaRanking,” is used to compare the results of the different multi-objective methods. The model is illustrated with some numerical data using the Generalized Reduced Gradient method through Lingo 11.0. A real-life example is also presented. Several particular models are deduced. The numerical results demonstrate the importance of each objective. Pareto fronts represent that each objective is conflicting with the other.