Vehicle routing problem on a road-network with fuzzy time windows for perishable food

Abstract

In this paper, a Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Fuzzy Time Windows and multiple Paths (CVRPFTW-P) for the distribution of perishable food in urban area is proposed and solved. We adopt the real road network modeling approach considering alternative paths to find efficient routes based on real spatial data. The parametric approach is used to decompose the original fuzzy problem into a set of crisp models (CVRPFTW-P). Experiments based on a designed case study in Casablanca city of Morocco was conducted to evaluate the impact of flexible time windows on distribution costs and results show that CVRPFTW-P model can attain significant cost-saving while ensuring a good level of service.