A Modified Hybrid Variable Neighborhood Search for the Truck Scheduling Problem on a Multiple-door Cross-docking Terminal
Résumé
In the logistics context, many optimization problems can be found and they concern the global supply chain optimization which takes into account the whole logistics networks with all its elements: suppliers, distribution centers and retailers on the one hand, and the optimization of the scheduling and routing operations occurring in production plants and distribution centers such as cross-docks on the other hand. This study focuses on optimizing operations in the cross-docking terminal which is considered as a key factor in the efficiency of the supply chain. In this paper, we consider the truck scheduling on a multiple-door cross-docking terminal. The objective is to find the assignment and scheduling of the trucks on a time horizon while minimizing the tardiness of the inbound and outbound trucks. A modified hybrid Variable Neighborhood Search is proposed to solve the problem. The performance of the suggested meta-heuristic is compared to a Tabu Search on a set of benchmark instances from the literature. The sensitivity, stability and convergence behavior of the meta-heuristic are evaluated through a statistical analysis