Abstract:

Considering the fact that the common vehicle routing problem model with time window (VRPTW) constraint cannot truly reflect customers' preferences of time, a modified vehicle routing optimization model based on customer time satisfaction function (vehicle routing problem with satisfaction (VRPWS) model) has been proposed. This new model is designed by relaxing the restriction that each demand point should be served if passed so as to allow vehicles to pass all demand points many times. And the simulate anneal algorithm is used to solve this problem. In order to illustrate the validity of VRPWS, a numerical example has been introduced. Through the numerical simulation and calculation, it is found that the VRPWS model is superior to the traditional vehicle routing optimization model with soft time window (VRPSTW) constraints and the vehicle routing optimization model with time window constraints in that it increases the delivery revenue by 170.0% and 3.2% respectively. This study helps logistics enterprises to improve their customer satisfaction and reduce their transportation costs in the delivery process.

Key words: customer time satisfaction, distribution path optimization, VRPWS