heuristics

Recursive Partitioning and Batching for Network Design with Service Time Guarantees at Massive Scale

  • Myungeun Eom
  • Alan L. Erera
  • Alejandro Toriello
    • Categories Production and Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Transportation Tags , , , ,

    Motivated by the parcel delivery industry, we study a network design problem with service time guarantees at industrial scale. This tactical service network design problem determines primary paths and delivery schedules for commodities to minimize transportation and handling costs while ensuring committed service times. To construct a solution for a real-world instance with over 1,000 … Read more

    An analytical lower bound for a class of minimizing quadratic integer optimization problems

  • Christian Schmitt
  • Bismark Singh
    • Categories Combinatorial Optimization, Integer Programming, Quadratic Programming Tags , , ,

    Lower bounds on minimization problems are essential for convergence of both branching-based and iterative solution methods for optimization problems. They are also required for evaluating the quality of feasible solutions by providing conservative optimality gaps. We provide an analytical lower bound for a class of quadratic optimization problems with binary decision variables. In contrast to … Read more

    Social Classroom Seating Assignment Problems

  • Alessandro Hill
  • Steffen Peuker
  • Ioannis Mourtos
    • Categories Applications - OR and Management Sciences, Network Optimization Tags , , , , ,

    University students benefit academically, personally and professionally from an expansion of their in-class social network. To facilitate this, we present a novel and broadly applicable optimization approach that exposes individuals to as many as possible peers that they do not know. This novel class of ‘social seating assignment problems’ is parameterized by the social network, … Read more

    The Balanced Facility Location Problem: Complexity and Heuristics

  • Malena Schmidt
  • Bismark Singh
    • Categories Applications - OR and Management Sciences, Combinatorial Optimization Tags , , , ,

    In a recent work, Schmitt and Singh propose a new quadratic facility location model to address ecological challenges faced by policymakers in Bavaria, Germany. Building on this previous work, we significantly extend our understanding of this new problem. We develop connections to traditional combinatorial optimization models and show the problem is NP-hard. We then develop … Read more

    Exploiting user-supplied Decompositions inside Heuristics

  • Katrin Halbig
  • Adrian Göß
  • Dieter Weninger
    • Categories Integer Programming Tags , , , ,

    Numerous industrial fields, like supply chain management, face mixed-integer optimization problems on a regular basis. Such problems typically show a sparse structure and vary in size, as well as complexity. However, in order to satisfy customer demands, it is crucial to find good solutions to all such problems quickly. Current research often focuses on the … Read more

    Γ-robust Optimization of Project Scheduling Problems

  • Arie M.C.A. Koster
  • Jenny Segschneider
    • Categories Applications - OR and Management Sciences, Scheduling Tags , , , ,

    In this paper, we investigate the problem of finding a robust baseline schedule for the project scheduling problem under uncertain process times. We assume that the probability distribution for the duration is unknown but an estimation together with an interval in which this time can vary is given. At most $ \Gamma $ of the … Read more

    Insertion Heuristics for a Class of Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problems

  • Adam N. Letchford
    • Categories Combinatorial Optimization, Transportation Tags ,

    We consider a simple family of dynamic vehicle routing problems, in which we have a fixed fleet of identical vehicles, and customer requests arrive during the route-planning process. For this kind of problem, it is natural to use an insertion heuristic. We test several such heuristics computationally, on two different variants of the problem. It … Read more

    Worst-Case Analysis of Heuristic Approaches for the Temporal Bin Packing Problem with Fire-Ups

  • John Martinovic
  • Nico Strasdat
    • Categories (Mixed) Integer Linear Programming, Approximation Algorithms, Scheduling Tags , , , ,

    We consider the temporal bin packing problem with fire-ups (TBPP-FU), a branch of operations research recently introduced in multi-objective cloud computing. In this scenario, any item is equipped with a resource demand and a lifespan meaning that it requires the bin capacity only during that time interval. We then aim at finding a schedule minimizing … Read more

    Solution Strategies for Integrated Distribution, Production, and Routing Problems Arising in Modular Manufacturing

  • R. Cory Allen
  • Styliani Avraamidou
  • Sergiy Butenko
  • Efstratios N. Pistikopoulos
    • Categories Applications - OR and Management Sciences Tags , , ,

    Recently, there has been a paradigm shift by certain energy and chemical companies towards modular manufacturing, whereby transportable modular production units can be relocated between production facilities to meet the spatial and temporal changes in the availabilities, demands, and prices of the underlying commodities. We refer to the optimal distribution, production, and storage of commodities, … Read more

    Decomposition strategies for vehicle routing heuristics

  • Alberto Santini
  • Michael Schneider
  • Thibaut Vidal
  • Daniele Vigo
    • Categories Meta Heuristics, Transportation Tags , ,

    Decomposition techniques are an important component of modern heuristics for large instances of vehicle routing problems. The current literature lacks a characterisation of decomposition strategies and a systematic investigation of their impact when integrated into state-of-the-art heuristics. This paper fills this gap: we discuss the main characteristics of decomposition techniques in vehicle routing heuristics, highlight … Read more