Abstract
This paper addresses a problem that service companies often face: the field technician scheduling problem. The problem considers the assignment of a set of jobs or service tasks to a group of technicians. The tasks are in different locations within a city, with different time windows, priorities, and processing times. Technicians have different skills and working hours. The main objective is to maximize the sum of priority values associated with the tasks performed each day. Due to the complexity of this problem, constructive heuristics that explore specific characteristics of the problem are developed. A customized Biased Random Key Genetic Algorithm (BRKGA) is also proposed. Computational tests with 1040 instances are presented. The constructive heuristics outperformed a heuristic of the literature in 90% of the instances. In a comparative study with optimal solutions obtained for small-sized problems, the BRKGA reached 99% of the optimal values; for medium- and large-sized problems, the BRKGA provided solutions that are on average 3.6% below the upper bounds.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
