Vehicle routing problem for the minimization of perishable food damage considering road conditions

Abstract

Transportation is one of the activities in which perishable food products may suffer mechanical damage, which translates into a substantial loss of quality and product value. Themain source of this type of damage in transportation is vibration, influenced, among others factors, by road conditions, a factor that can be considered in the vehicle routing problem. To address this issue, we propose a multi-objective model that seeks to minimize the damaged products during transport and the distance traveled by vehicles. To evaluate the model, we examined 10 instances adapted from the literature for the vehicle routing with time windows. Small size instances were solved using an augmented -constraint method (AUGMECON) and for large size instances, we applied a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). The results allowed us to observe the relationship between the damaged products and the distance traveled and showed that the proposed solution approaches are capable of providing feasible routes considering trade-offs between these objectives. Hence, our model provides decision makers with a tool for an effective determination of vehicle routes that considers the damage that perishable food products may experience during transport.