A hybrid tabu search to solve the heterogeneous fixed fleet vehicle routing problem

One of the most significant problems of supply chain management is the distribution of products between locations. The delivery of goods from a warehouse to local customers is a critical aspect of material logistics. The Heterogeneous Fixed Fleet Vehicle Routing Problem (HFFVRP) is a variant of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) that aims to provide service to a specific customer group with minimum cost using a limited number of vehicles. We assume that the number of vehicles is fixed. We must decide how to make the best use of the fixed fleet of vehicles. In this paper we describe a Tabu Search algorithm embedded in the Adaptive Memory (TSAM) procedure to solve the HFFVRP. Computational experiments indicating the performance of the algorithm concerning quality of solution and processing time are reported.