An integrated mixed integer program model for the two-level capacitated vehicle routing problem with extensions

TL;DR

This paper presents an integrated mixed integer programming model for the two-level capacitated vehicle routing problem, combining bin packing and routing to better reflect real-world logistics challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a novel MIP model for the NP-hard two-level CVRP, incorporating extensive real-world constraints and extending traditional vehicle routing models.

Findings

Model validated on artificial instances

Model tested on real-life logistics data

Demonstrates applicability to complex routing scenarios

Abstract

This paper introduces the two-level capacitated vehicle routing problem (2S-CVRP). This problem combines the two-level bin packing problem and the vehicle routing problem into an integrated framework. The problem itself is an NP-hard problem and it can be seen as an extension to the traditional capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). We propose this extension as it enable one to model more real-life applications in logistics. A mixed integer program (MIP) model is presented for the problem. Our MIP model includes an extensive set of constraints encountered in real-world applications. The validity of the model is tested on both artificial and real-life instances.