Multiobjective Quantum Evolutionary Algorithm for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Customer Satisfaction

• Published in: Mathematical Problems in Engineering Vol. 2012; no. 2012; pp. 623 - 641
• Main Authors: Cattani, Carlo, Zhao, Yanwei, Wang, Wanliang, Zhang, Jingling
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Limiteds 01.01.2012; Hindawi Publishing Corporation; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Adaptive algorithms; Costs; Customer satisfaction; Customer services; Evolutionary algorithms; Genetic algorithms; Heuristic; Integer programming; Mathematical models; Mixed integer; Multiple objective analysis; Objectives; Routing; Studies; Vehicle routing; Windows (intervals)
• ISSN: 1024-123X; 1563-5147
• DOI: 10.1155/2012/879614

The multiobjective vehicle routing problem considering customer satisfaction (MVRPCS) involves the distribution of orders from several depots to a set of customers over a time window. This paper presents a self-adaptive grid multi-objective quantum evolutionary algorithm (MOQEA) for the MVRPCS, which takes into account customer satisfaction as well as travel costs. The degree of customer satisfaction is represented by proposing an improved fuzzy due-time window, and the optimization problem is modeled as a mixed integer linear program. In the MOQEA, nondominated solution set is constructed by the Challenge Cup rules. Moreover, an adaptive grid is designed to achieve the diversity of solution sets; that is, the number of grids in each generation is not fixed but is automatically adjusted based on the distribution of the current generation of nondominated solution set. In the study, the MOQEA is evaluated by applying it to classical benchmark problems. Results of numerical simulation and comparison show that the established model is valid and the MOQEA is effective for MVRPCS.