Efficient approximate solution methods for the multi-commodity capacitated multi-facility Weber problem

The capacitated multi-facility Weber problem is concerned with locating I capacitated facilities in the plane to satisfy the demand of J customers with the minimum total transportation cost of a single commodity. This is a nonconvex optimization problem and difficult to solve. In this work, we focus on a multi-commodity extension and consider the situation where K distinct commodities are shipped subject to capacity constraints between each customer and facility pair. Customer locations, demands and capacities for each commodity, and bundle restrictions are known a priori. The transportation costs, which are proportional to the distance between customers and facilities, depend on the commodity type. We address several location-allocation and discrete approximation heuristics using different strategies. Based on the obtained computational results we can say that the alternate solution of location and allocation problems is a very efficient strategy; but the discrete approximation has excellent accuracy.     

Heuristics for the capacitated dispersion problem

In this paper, we investigate the adaptation of the greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) and variable neighborhood descent (VND) methodologies to the capacitated dispersion problem. Dispersion and diversity problems arise in the placement of undesirable facilities, workforce management, and social media, among others. Maximizing diversity deals with selecting a subset of elements from a given set in such a way that the distance among the selected elements is maximized. We target here a realistic variant with capacity constraints for which a heuristic with a performance guarantee was previously introduced. In particular, we propose a hybridization of GRASP and VND implementing within the strategic oscillation framework. To evaluate the performance of our heuristic, we perform extensive experimentation to first set key search parameters, and then compare the final method with the previous heuristic. Additionally, we propose a mathematical model to obtain optimal solutions for small‐sized instances, and compare our solutions with the well‐known LocalSolver software.     

Heuristics for the periodic capacitated arc routing problem

The Capacitated Arc Routing Problem (CARP) involves the routing of vehicles to service a set of arcs in a network. This NP-hard problem is extended to a multiperiod horizon, giving a new tactical problem called the Periodic CARP (PCARP). This problem actually occurs in municipal waste collection. Its objective is to assign arcs to periods and to compute the trips in each period, to minimize an overall cost on the horizon. An integer linear program, two insertion heuristics and a two-phase heuristic are developed. These very first algorithms for the PCARP are evaluated on PCARP instances derived from standard CARP benchmarks from literature: the insertion heuristics are very fast but the two-phase method yields better solution costs.     

Heuristics for the capacitated modular hub location problem

In this paper we study the hub location problem, where the goal is to identify an optimal subset of facilities (hubs) to minimize the transportation cost while satisfying certain capacity constraints. In particular, we target the single assignment version, in which each node in the transportation network is assigned to only one hub to route its traffic. We consider here a realistic variant introduced previously, in which the capacity of edges between hubs is increased in a modular way. This reflects the practical situation in air traffic where the number of flights between two locations implies a capacity in terms of number of passengers. Then, the capacity can be increased in a modular way, as a factor of the number of flights. We propose heuristic methods to obtain high-quality solutions in short computing times. Specifically, we implement memory structures to create advanced search methods and compare them with previous heuristics on a set of benchmark instances. Memory structures have been widely implemented in the context of the tabu search methodology, usually embedded in local search algorithms. In this paper we explore an alternative design in which the constructive method is enhanced with frequency information and the local search is coupled with a path relinking post-processing. Statistical tests confirm the superiority of our proposal with respect to previous developments.     

Bounds for the single source modular capacitated plant location problem

In this paper, we propose a discrete location problem, which we call the Single Source Modular Capacitated Location Problem (SS-MCLP). The problem consists of finding the location and capacity of the facilities, to serve a set of customers at a minimum total cost. The demand of each customer must be satisfied by one facility only and the capacities of the open facilities must be chosen from a finite and discrete set of allowable capacities. Because the SS-MCLP is a difficult problem, a lagrangean heuristic, enhanced by tabu search or local search was developed in order to obtain good feasible solutions. When needed, the lower bounds are used in order to evaluate the quality of the feasible solutions. Our method was tested computationally on randomly generated test problems some of which are with large dimensions considering the literature related to this type of problem. The computational results obtained were compared with those provided by the commercial software Cplex.     

Heuristics for a continuous multi-facility location problem with demand regions

We consider a continuous multi-facility location allocation problem where the demanding entities are regions in the plane instead of points. The problem can be stated as follows: given m (closed, convex) polygonal demand regions in the plane, find the locations of q facilities and allocate each region to exactly one facility so as to minimize a weighted sum of squares of the maximum Euclidean distances between the demand regions and the facilities they are assigned to.We propose mathematical programming formulations of the single and multiple facility versions of the problem considered. The single facility location problem is formulated as a second order cone programming (SOCP) problem, and hence is solvable in polynomial time. The multiple facility location problem is NP-hard in general and can be formulated as a mixed integer SOCP problem. This formulation is weak and does not even solve medium-size instances. To solve larger instances of the problem we propose three heuristics. When all the demand regions are rectangular regions with their sides parallel to the standard coordinate axes, a faster special heuristic is developed. We compare our heuristics in terms of both solution quality and computational time.     

Region-rejection based heuristics for the capacitated multi-source Weber problem

A new type of constructive and adaptive heuristics is put forward to generate initial solutions for the capacitated multi-source Weber problem. This technique is based on guiding the search by constructing restricted regions that forbid new locations to be sited too close to the previously found locations. In this work, a restricted region is represented by a circle whose radius is initially set to a fixed value, based on the sparsity of the customers and the number of facilities, and then a scheme that dynamically adjusts the radius at each facility is proposed. A discretisation technique that divides a continuous space into a discrete number of cells while embedding the use of restricted regions within the search is also presented. The experiments show that the proposed region-rejection methods, though simple and easy to understand, provide encouraging results with regard to both solution quality and computational effort. Some future research avenues are also briefly highlighted.     

Heuristics for the multi-item capacitated lot-sizing problem with lost sales

This paper deals with the multi-item capacitated lot-sizing problem with setup times and lost sales. Because of lost sales, demands can be partially or totally lost. To find a good lower bound, we use a Lagrangian relaxation of the capacity constraints, when single-item uncapacitated lot-sizing problems with lost sales have to be solved. Each subproblem is solved using an adaptation of the O(T²)$O(T^2)$ dynamic programming algorithm of Aksen et al. [5]. To find feasible solutions, we propose a non-myopic heuristic based on a probing strategy and a refining procedure. We also propose a metaheuristic based on the adaptive large neighborhood search principle to improve solutions. Some computational experiments showing the effectiveness and limitation of each approach are presented.     

A guided reactive GRASP for the capacitated multi-source Weber problem

The capacitated multi-source Weber problem entails finding both the locations of capacitated facilities on a plane and their customer allocations. A framework that uses adaptive learning and functional representation to construct the restricted candidate list (RCL) within a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) is put forward. An implementation of restricted regions that forbids new facilities to be located too close to the previously found facilities is also embedded into the search to build up the RCL more efficiently. The performance of this GRASP based approach is tested on three classes of instances with constant and variable capacities. Very competitive results are obtained when compared to the best known results from the literature.     

Integrated use of fuzzy c-means and convex programming for capacitated multi-facility location problem

In this study a fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm based method is proposed for solving a capacitated multi-facility location problem of known demand points which are served from capacitated supply centres. It involves the integrated use of fuzzy c-means and convex programming. In fuzzy c-means, data points are allowed to belong to several clusters with different degrees of membership. This feature is used here to split demands between supply centers. The cluster number is determined by an incremental method that starts with two and designated when capacity of each cluster is sufficient for its demand. Finally, each group of cluster and each model are solved as a single facility location problem. Then each single facility location problem given by fuzzy c-means is solved by convex programming which optimizes transportation cost is used to fine-tune the facility location. Proposed method is applied to several facility location problems from OR library (Osman & Christofides, 1994) and compared with centre of gravity and particle swarm optimization based algorithms. Numerical results of an asphalt producer’s real-world data in Turkey are reported. Numerical results show that the proposed approach performs better than using original fuzzy c-means, integrated use of fuzzy c-means and center of gravity methods in terms of transportation costs.     

Beam search heuristics for the single and multi-commodity capacitated Multi-facility Weber Problems

The Multi-facility Weber Problem (MWP) is concerned with locating I uncapacitated facilities in the plane to satisfy the demand of J customers with the minimum total transportation cost of a single commodity. It is a non-convex optimization problem and difficult to solve. In this work, we focus on the capacitated extensions of the MWP which are Capacitated MWP (CMWP) and multi-commodity CMWP (MCMWP). Both the CMWP and MCMWP impose capacity restrictions on facilities. Indeed, the MCMWP is a natural extension of the CMWP and considers the situation where K distinct commodities are shipped subject to limitations on the total amount of goods sent from facilities to the customers. Customer locations, demands and capacities for each commodity are known a priori. The transportation costs, which depend on the commodity type, are proportional to the distance between customers and facilities. We first introduce branch and bound algorithms for both the CMWP and the MCMWP then we propose beam search heuristics for these problems. According to our computational experiments on standard and randomly generated test instances, we can say that the new heuristics perform very well.     

A Cross Entropy-based heuristic for the capacitated multi-source Weber problem with facility fixed cost

This paper investigates a capacitated planar location–allocation problem with facility fixed cost. A zone-based fixed cost which consists of production and installation costs is considered. A nonlinear and mixed integer formulation is first presented. A powerful three stage Cross Entropy meta-heuristic with novel density functions is proposed. In the first stage a covering location problem providing a multivariate normal density function for the associated stochastic problem is solved. The allocation values considering a multinomial density function are obtained in the second stage. In the third stage, single facility continuous location problems are solved. Several instances of various sizes are used to assess the performance of the proposed meta-heuristic. Our approach performs well when compared with the optimizer GAMS which is used to provide the optimal solution for small size instances and lower/upper bounds for some of the larger ones.     

A dual RAMP algorithm for single source capacitated facility location problems

Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence - In this paper, we address the Single Source Capacitated Facility Location Problem (SSCFLP) which considers a set of possible locations for...     

Heuristics for the two‐machine scheduling problem with a single server

In this paper, the NP‐hard two‐machine scheduling problem with a single server is addressed. The problem consists of a given set of jobs to be scheduled on two identical parallel machines, where each job must be processed on one of the machines, and prior to processing, the job is set up on its machine using one server; the latter is shared between the two machines. An ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is introduced for the problem and its performance was assessed by comparing with an exact solution (branch and bound [B&B]), a genetic algorithm (GA), and simulated annealing (SA). The computational results reflected the superiority of “ACO” in large problems, with a performance similar to SA and GA in smaller problems, while solving the tested problems within a reasonable computational time.     

Heuristics for the mixed swapping problem

In the swapping problem, to each vertex of a complete directed graph are associated at most two object types representing its supply and demand. It is assumed that for each object type the total supply equals the total demand. A vehicle of unit capacity, starting and ending its route at an arbitrary vertex, is available to carry the objects along the arcs of the graph. The aim is to determine a minimum cost route such that each supply and demand is satisfied. When some of the object types are allowed to be temporarily unloaded at some intermediate vertices before being carried to their final destination, the problem is called the mixed swapping problem. In this paper we describe constructive and improvement heuristics which were successfully applied to randomly generated instances with up to 10,000 vertices, with an average optimality gap not exceeding 1%.     

Heuristics for the single machine scheduling problem with quadratic earliness and tardiness penalties

In this paper, we consider the single machine scheduling problem with quadratic earliness and tardiness costs, and no machine idle time. We propose several dispatching heuristics, and analyse their performance on a wide range of instances. The heuristics include simple and widely used scheduling rules, as well as adaptations of those rules to a quadratic objective function. We also propose heuristic procedures that specifically address both the earliness and the tardiness penalties, as well as the quadratic cost function. Several improvement procedures were also analysed. These procedures are applied as an improvement step, once the heuristics have generated a schedule.     

Heuristics for the rural postman problem

When addressing the problem of snow removal for secondary roads, a tool for solving the rural postman problem can be very useful. We present some ideas for heuristics for this problem. The heuristics are of the same type as the classical Frederickson heuristic. The ideas concern the order of the main steps in such a method, namely constructing a connected graph with all vertices having even degree, containing all the required edges. We also propose two postprocessing heuristics for improving the tours and removing unnecessary detours. The computational tests show that the ideas are interesting alternatives to the classical approach, and that running times are acceptable. We study problem characteristics that may indicate which method to choose.     

Heuristics for a bidding problem

In this paper, we study a bidding problem which can be modeled as a set packing problem. A simulated annealing heuristic with three local moves, including an embedded branch-and-bound move, is developed for the problem. We compared the heuristic with the CPLEX 8.0 solver and the current best non-exact method, Casanova, using the standard CATS benchmark and other realistic test sets. Results show that the heuristic outperforms CPLEX and Casanova.     

Heuristics for the variable sized bin-packing problem

We investigate the one-dimensional variable-sized bin-packing problem. This problem requires packing a set of items into a minimum-cost set of bins of unequal sizes and costs. Six optimization-based heuristics for this problem are presented and compared. We analyze their empirical performance on a large set of randomly generated test instances with up to 2000 items and seven bin types. The first contribution of this paper is to provide evidence that a set covering heuristic proves to be highly effective and capable of delivering very-high quality solutions within short CPU times. In addition, we found that a simple subset-sum problem-based heuristic consistently outperforms heuristics from the literature while requiring extremely short CPU times.     

A dynamic multi-objective approach for the reconfigurable multi-facility layout problem

The multi-facility layout problem involves the physical organization of departments inside several facilities, to allow flexible and efficient operations. This work studies the facility layout problem in a new perspective, considering a group of facilities, and two different concerns: the location of departments within a group of facilities, and the location of departments inside each facility itself. The problem is formulated as a Quadratic Programming Problem with multiple objectives and unequal areas, allowing layout reconfigurations in each planning period. The objectives of the model are: the minimization of costs (material handling inside facilities and between facilities, and re-layout); the maximization of adjacency between departments; and the minimization of the “unsuitability” of department positions and locations. This unsuitability measure is a new objective proposed in this work, to combine the characteristics of existing locations with the requirements of departments. The model was tested with data from the literature as well as with a problem inspired in a first tier supplier in the automotive industry. Preliminary results show that this work can be viewed as an innovative and promising integrated approach for tackling real, complex facility layout problems.