An effective hybrid search algorithm for the multiple traveling repairman problem with profits

• Published in: European journal of operational research Vol. 304; no. 2; pp. 381 - 394
• Main Authors: Ren, Jintong, Hao, Jin-Kao, Wu, Feng, Fu, Zhang-Hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Arc-based crossover; Combinatorial optimization; Computer Science; Heuristics; Multiple traveling repairman problem with profits; Variable neighborhood search; Multiple traveling repairman problem with profits; Combinatorial optimization; Variable neighborhood search; Heuristics; Arc-based crossover
• ISSN: 0377-2217; 1872-6860
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2022.04.007

•The multiple traveling repairman problem with profits has many applications.•A hybrid algorithm is presented for solving the problem.•A dedicated arc-based crossover to generate offspring solutions is applied.•A fast evaluation technique in evaluating neighboring solutions is employed.•137 best-known results are reported. The multiple traveling repairman problem with profits consists of multiple repairmen serving a subset of all customers to maximize the revenues collected through the visited customers. To address this problem, an effective hybrid search algorithm based on the memetic framework is proposed. In the proposed method, three features are integrated: a dedicated arc-based crossover to generate high-quality offspring solutions, a fast evaluation technique to reduce the complexity of navigating classical neighborhoods as well as a correcting step to ensure accurate evaluation of neighboring solutions. The performance of the algorithm on 470 benchmark instances were compared with those of the leading reference algorithms. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms by setting new records for 137 instances and matching the best-known results for 330 instances. The importance of the key search components of the algorithm was investigated.