Abstract
This work presents an exact Logic Based Benders’ decomposition for the Concrete Delivery Problem (CDP). The CDP is a complex, real world optimization problem involving the allocation and distribution of concrete to construction sites. The key scheduling issue for the CDP is the need for successive deliveries to a site to be sufficiently close in time. We decompose the CDP into a master problem and a subproblem. Based on a number of problem characteristics such as the availability of vehicles, geographical orientation of the customers and production centers, as well as the customers’ demand for concrete, the master problem allocates concrete to customers. Next, the subproblem attempts to construct a feasible schedule, meeting all the routing and scheduling constraints. Infeasibilities in the schedule are communicated back to the master problem via a number of combinatorial inequalities (Benders’ cuts). The master problem is solved through a Mixed Integer Programming approach, whereas the subproblem is solved via a Constraint Programming model and a dedicated scheduling heuristic. Experiments are conducted on a large number of problem instances, and compared against other exact methods presented in related literature. This algorithm is capable of solving a number of previously unsolved benchmark instances to optimality and can improve the bounds for many other instances.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Asbach, L., Dorndorf, U., Pesch, E.: Analysis, modeling and solution of the concrete delivery problem. European Journal of Operational Research 193(3), 820–835 (2009)
Bai, L., Rubin, P.A.: Combinatorial benders cuts for the minimum tollbooth problem. Operations Research 57(6), 1510–1522 (2009)
Côté, J.-F., Dell’Amico, M., Iori, M.: Combinatorial benders’ cuts for the strip packing problem. Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation and Department of Computer Science and Operations Research, Université de Mon (CIRELT), Tech. Rep. CIRRELT-2013-27 (April 2013)
Durbin, M., Hoffman, K.: OR Practice - The Dance of the Thirty-Ton Trucks: Dispatching and Scheduling in a Dynamic Environment. Operations Research 56(1), 3–19 (2008)
Hertz, A., Uldry, M., Widmer, M.: Integer linear programming models for a cement delivery problem. European Journal of Operational Research 222(3), 623–631 (2012)
Kinable, J., Wauters, T.: CDPLib (2013), https://sites.google.com/site/cdplib/
Kinable, J., Wauters, T., Vanden Berghe, G.: The Concrete Delivery Problem. Computers & Operations Research (2014) (in press)
Naso, D., Surico, M., Turchiano, B., Kaymak, U.: Genetic algorithms for supply-chain scheduling: A case study in the distribution of ready-mixed concrete. European Journal of Operational Research 177(3), 2069–2099 (2007)
Rasmussen, R., Trick, M.: A benders approach for the constrained minimum break problem. European Journal of Operational Research 177(1), 198–213 (2007)
Schmid, V., Doerner, K.F., Hartl, R.F., Savelsbergh, M.W.P., Stoecher, W.: A hybrid solution approach for ready-mixed concrete delivery. Transportation Science 43(1), 70–85 (2009)
Schmid, V., Doerner, K.F., Hartl, R.F., Salazar-Gonzlez, J.-J.: Hybridization of very large neighborhood search for ready-mixed concrete delivery problems. Computers and Operations Research 37(3), 559–574 (2010)
Silva, C., Faria, J.M., Abrantes, P., Sousa, J.M.C., Surico, M., Naso, D.: Concrete Delivery using a combination of GA and ACO. In: 44th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2005 and 2005 European Control Conference, CDC-ECC 2005, pp. 7633–7638 (2005)
Tran, T.T., Beck, J.C.: Logic-based benders decomposition for alternative resource scheduling with sequence dependent setups. In: ECAI. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications, vol. 242, pp. 774–779. IOS Press (2012)
Verstichel, J., Kinable, J., Vanden Berghe, G., De Causmaecker, P.: A combinatorial benders decomposition for the lock scheduling problem. KU Leuven, Tech. Rep., http://allserv.kahosl.be/~jannes/lockscheduling/combinatorialBenders_19112013.pdf (September 2013)
Yan, S., Lai, W.: An optimal scheduling model for ready mixed concrete supply with overtime considerations. Automation in Construction 16(6), 734–744 (2007)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kinable, J., Trick, M. (2014). A Logic Based Benders’ Approach to the Concrete Delivery Problem. In: Simonis, H. (eds) Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming. CPAIOR 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8451. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07046-9_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07046-9_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-07045-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07046-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)