Transportation problem of cross-docking network with three-dimensional trucks

A significant part of price of each product is related to distribution process. Therefore, by controlling this process, a good improvement will be observed in not only net profit of related company but also customer satisfaction. Cross-docking network is considered as a useful method for achieving to these goals. In this paper, transportation problem of cross-docking network is used in order to minimize the total cost for transferring the loads between origins and destinations. The three-dimensional shapes are applied for both trucks and loads. This assumption helps us to find the exact capacity of each truck in basis of each product. Thus, decision makers will find easily by which combinations and amount of products each truck will fill. This problem is formulated using a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) and solved by a heuristic algorithm that simulated annealing (SA) is its core. Several numerical examples are solved, and the results show that this algorithm can find efficient solutions in comparison with exact algorithm.