MTVRP.ipynb

In the soft drink industry, logistics and the vehicle routing problem (VRP) are crucial for designing efficient distribution networks that reduce costs and improve delivery times. This study aims to determine the routes, and the number of trips required to complete deliveries in the shortest possible time, considering loading and unloading times. A routing model with multiple trips and a heterogeneous fleet is developed, considering these times during soft drink distribution. The model is solved in two phases using a heuristic procedure that first determines the number of trips each vehicle can make, inspired by the First-Fit algorithm principle employed in Bin Packing problems. Subsequently, the vehicle with the highest load is routed using the lower-bound principle to maximize vehicle capacity utilization. This reduces the problem’s dimensionality to routing with multiple trips and a homogeneous fleet. The second phase solves this using mixed-integer linear programming. The results provide a rapid solution and improve route distribution by 12.75%. Notably, the model incorporates loading times at the depot and unloading times at customer locations as part of the objective to minimize delivery time rather than treating them as constraints, as in previous research.