Multi-Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem to Find the Alternative Distribution Route of Petroleum Product Delivery

Abstract

Distribution is an activity that the firm has to do to deliver their product to the customers. The product has to deliver to the customers on the right condition, at the right time, and with the minimal cost of delivery. This paper focuses to solve the planning distribution problem on petrol product delivery or Petrol Station Replenishment Problem. One of the ways to solve the planning distribution is VRP (Vehicle Routing Problem). VRP aims to find the minimal total cost delivery with some constraints depend on the factory. In this research, VRP is used by the distribution center to find the optimal route of distribution of petrol products. Using Multi-Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem (MC-VRP) that considers the demand for the petrol product, tank-truck capacity, distribution cost, and the number of the compartment. In this work, a mathematical formulation for MC-VRP is developed in the Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model. Using Ilog Cplex with branch and bound algorithm to solve this distribution problem with the minimum total distribution cost. There are 10 customers with different distances, different time deliveries and different travel costs in this research. The mathematic formulation produces the best alternative that is Rp 1.898.584 to deliver products from depot to the customers.