Author/Authors :
Hamidi، Mohsen نويسنده Finance and Economics Department, Woodbury School of Business, Utah Valley University, USA , , Farahmand، Kambiz نويسنده , , Sajjadi، S. Reza نويسنده TransSolutions, LLC, 14600 Trinity Blvd., Suite 200, Fort Worth, TX 76155, USA , , E. Nygard، Kendall نويسنده Department of Computer Science, North Dakota State University, IACC 258, 2740, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050, USA ,
Abstract :
The purpose of this study is to solve a complex multi-product four-layer capacitated location-routing problem (LRP) in which two specific constraints are taken into account: 1) plants have limited production capacity, and 2) central depots have limited capacity for storing and transshipping products. The LRP represents a multi-product four-layer distribution network that consists of plants, central depots, regional depots, and customers. A heuristic algorithm is developed to solve the four-layer LRP. The heuristic uses GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) and two probabilistic tabu search strategies of intensification and diversification to tackle the problem. Results show that the heuristic solves the problem effectively.
