A Hybrid Simulated Annealing Algorithm for Location of Cross-Docking Centers in a Supply Chain

摘要

In this paper, cross-docking centers are designed at a strategic level for distribution planning in a supply chain. To make the strategic decision, a zero-one programming (ZOP) model is presented for the location to determine the minimum number of cross-docks among a set of location centers so that each retailer demand should be met. Then, a hybrid simulated annealing (HSA) algorithm embedded with tabu search (TS) is proposed to solve the presented model. A number of test problems in small and large sizes are examined to illustrate the performance of the proposed HSA algorithm in terms of the solution quality and computational time. Moreover, its efficiency is compared with the classical SA and TS algorithms in detail. Finally, computational results demonstrate that the proposed HSA algorithm outperforms the two classical algorithms and converges fast to high-quality solutions.