Freight vehicle dispatching problem with capital constraints by genetic algorithm

Abstract

Enterprise operation management mainly includes production decisions and capital decisions. This paper proposes a vehicle dispatching decision problem considering capital constraints. First, a freight vehicle dispatching model with capital and time windows constraints is devised with an objective of maximizing profit. Then, a two-stage algorithm is developed. In the first stage, a genetic algorithm is employed to get feasible vehicle routes. In the second stage, a regulation is used to improve the present routes by discarding the customers whose profit ratio of cost is minimized. Finally, a case study illustrates that the profit ratio increases by 54% through the proposed method and the capital investment decreases by 30% when considering the capital constraints.

Keywords:

• logistics finance
• mixed vehicle routing problem
• time windows
• capital constraints
• genetic algorithm

Acknowledgments

This study is partially supported by the National Nature Science of China (71101088, 71171129, 71390521, 71301101, 71302033), the Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China and Shanghai (20113121120002, 14YZ100, 20123121110004, 13SG48), and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai (12ZR1412800, 12510501600).