OPTIMAL ROUTING OF A SINGLE VEHICLE WITH LOADING AND UNLOADING CONSTRAINTS

A real-life situation in which a trucker has to collect a cargo of similar size from n different customers spread out in a given region and to deliver them to n locations spread out in another far-away region has been formulated as a route-design problem for a single vehicle. The minimal total time of loading, shipping and unloading is considered for different reshuffling methods, and the optimal method is determined. A solution procedure by enumeration is suggested to solve an actual small size problem, and an illustration is provided. (Author/TRRL)