A heuristic algorithm for the free newspaper delivery problem

•We model the problem of distributing free newspapers in an urban area.•We highlights the peculiarities of the problem that makes it different from classical problems in the routing literature.•We propose a two phase and a hybrid solution approach.•We tested the approaches on a set of instances deri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of operational research 2013-10, Vol.230 (2), p.245-257
Main Authors: Archetti, Claudia, Doerner, Karl F., Tricoire, Fabien
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Buses (vehicles)
Deliveries
Heuristic
Heuristic methods
Hybrid methods
Inventory management
Inventory routing
Mathematical problems
Metaheuristics
Optimization algorithms
Production schedule
Readers
Route optimization
Stations
Studies
Subways
Trams
Vehicle routing problem with time windows
Windows (intervals)
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Summary:•We model the problem of distributing free newspapers in an urban area.•We highlights the peculiarities of the problem that makes it different from classical problems in the routing literature.•We propose a two phase and a hybrid solution approach.•We tested the approaches on a set of instances derived from real data. This paper addresses the problem of finding an effective distribution plan to deliver free newspapers from a production plant to subway, bus, or tram stations. The overall goal is to combine two factors: first, the free newspaper producing company wants to minimize the number of vehicle trips needed to distribute all newspapers produced at the production plant. Second, the company is interested in minimizing the time needed to consume all newspapers, i.e., the time needed to get all the newspapers taken by the final readers. The resulting routing problem combines aspects of the vehicle routing problem with time windows, the inventory routing problem, and additional constraints related to the production schedule. We propose a formulation and different heuristic approaches, as well as a hybrid method. Computational tests with real world data show that the hybrid method is the best in various problem settings.
ISSN:0377-2217
1872-6860
DOI:10.1016/j.ejor.2013.04.039