What type of study is this?

This is a Mixed-Methods study (also classified as: Experimental Study).

September 23, 2025Open Access

An Analysis of the Impact of Service Consistency on the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows

GBG. BianchiUniversidad Católica del Norte HLHernán LespayUniversidad Católica del Norte

Key Points

The study finds that implementing service consistency in vehicle routes significantly reduces operational costs while improving overall efficiency.
The mixed-integer linear programming model developed is tested against scenarios involving 10 and 20 customers to demonstrate its effectiveness.
Using a tabu search method allows for optimized route designs that account for fluctuating customer demand within specified time windows.
Comparative analysis reveals that the ConVRPTW model outperforms traditional models in key performance indicators related to service delivery.

Abstract

This paper proposes a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for the consistent vehicle routing problem with time windows (ConVRPTW), motivated by the need to enhance customer satisfaction in the last-mile logistics industry. The problem involves designing a set of consistent routes for a group of customers whose demand fluctuates from one period to another within a specified planning horizon. The objective is to minimize the cost associated with the number of vehicles used and the total travel time while satisfying service consistency constraints. A tabu search (TS) metaheuristic is implemented to solve the proposed model, and its performance is compared with the optimal solutions. Instances of 10 and 20 customers are designed based on the well-known Solomon instances for VRPTW. Finally, the solutions obtained from the ConVRPTW model are compared with those of a traditional VRPTW model using some key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the contribution of service consistency to route design.

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