Car Fleet Sizing, Positioning and Routing Trouble with Stochastic Customers
The Vehicle Fleet Positioning, Sizing, and Routing Problem with Stochastic Customers (VFSPRP-SC) is a method that consists of pairing strategic warehouse positioning and fleet sizing solutions with operational vehicle routing decisions while considering intrinsic demand uncertainty. The issue (VFSPRP-SC) was successfully settled using a methodology composed of two principal blocks:
- a scenario generatiING phase;
- a two-stage stochastic model program.
For the first block, a set of scenarios is chosen with a simulation-based strategy that registers In the first block, a set of scenarios is selected with a simulation-based strategy that registers the demand behavior and allows finding alternative solutions that may corresponding to varying risk scenarios.
The Second block comprises a facility location and allotment template and a Multiple Depot Vehicle Routing Problem (MDVRP) designed under a two-phase stochastic program. This proposed new methodology provides several new ideas: problem-specific cuts that act as an estimate of expected second-phase costs as a function of first-phase decisions; an activation paradigm that guides our primary optimization optimization technique; as well as a way to map data-sensitive problem routes from one second-phase to another; among others.
We conducted experiments in two instances: the first considers the expected value of demand, and the second considers the appropriate tail of demand circulation, looking for a conventional solution.
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