Route Optimization in the Inbound Logistics Based on Ant Colony Algorithm

Reasonable vehicle routing planning is the key of the inbound logistics management. The milk-run problem, which is different from traditional direct supply mode, can be seen as variety of vehicle routing problem. The milk-run mode is suitable for the transportation demand of parts with multi-varieties, multi-frequency, small batch. It improves the on-time delivery rate of parts. It is one of the most challenging problems in the optimization. Ant colony algorithm (ACA), an evolutionary algorithm, has been proved capable of solving milk-run problems. In this article, milk run is abstracted into vehicle routing problem with time window. Ant Colony Algorithm, in which the width of time window and waiting time of clients are introduced into state transition, is applied to milk-run problems. The experimental results indicate efficiency of the proposed algorithm strategy.