Solving the theater distribution vehicle routing and scheduling problem using group theoretic tabu search

The military “theater distribution vehicle routing and scheduling problem” (TDVRSP) is associated with determining superior allocations of required flows of personnel and materiel within a defined geographic area of operation. A theater distribution system is comprised of facilities, installations, methods, and procedures designed to receive, store, maintain, distribute, and control the flow of material between exogenous inflows to that system and distribution to end-user activities and units within the theater. An automated system that can integrate multimodal transportation assets to improve logistics support at all levels has been characterized as a major priority and immediate need for the U.S. military services. aper describes both the conceptual context, based in a flexible group theoretic tabu search (GTTS) framework, and the software implementation of a robust, efficient, and effective prescriptive generalized theater distribution methodology. This methodology evaluates and prescribes the routing and scheduling of multimodal theater transportation assets at the individual asset operational level to provide economically efficient time-definite delivery of cargo to customers.