Routing Optimization of Third Party Logistics Operations Using Greedy Search Approach

摘要

One of the important aspects of supply chain management is the maintenance of an efficient and cost effective system for the distribution of goods or products to customers end. Nowadays, it is almost inevitable that an efficient distribution network can only be achieved with the support of optimization technique in Computer based simulation software. This work describes how an Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) can play an effective role in this aspect. Besides being an effective and efficient optimization tool capable of handling problems of significant computational complexity, it enjoys great flexibility in copying with the constraints of typical real-life supply chain problems. This work considers the problem of managing a 3PL distribution network of Lucas-TVS for reaching various suppliers located around Chennai (Tamil Nadu, India). The simulation model is designed to generate an optimum route for a single truck to cover all suppliers situated within certain distance limit and integrating the suppliers as like Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP). The truck dispatched according to a pre-specified plan to reach the suppliers located around the hub subjected to several dynamic constraints. Greedy Search (GS) based dynamic simulation model was developed to generating the approximate shortest route solutions with reasonable computational time.Keywords Greedy Search Method, Logistics, Travelling Salesman Problem , Optimization, Simulation Model.