Research on Location Selection for Urban Networks of Less-than-Truckload Express Enterprises Based on Improved Immune Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

With the transformation and upgrading of the world economy entering a new normal, changes in the fields of industry and consumption have brought new business opportunities, and there is a large space for the less-than-truckload (LTL) express market. Considering the urban network resource operation status, this study aims to solve the optimization problem of urban location selection for LTL express under the common delivery model. To minimize the total cost of logistics and distribution, we established an integer programming model with constraints such as radiation range and service-capacity limitations. A model with a fixed reality-node strategy, an expanded initial antibody group strategy, improved traditional elite individual retention strategy and a node-clustering strategy was introduced. An improved immune optimization algorithm was further designed to obtain globally optimal solutions. With the comparison of existing algorithms, the results verified the practicability of the proposed model to solve the urban location-selection problems for LTL express. We then conducted an empirical analysis of a real-world enterprise’s reasonable urban network location selection in a central-south city of China. The simulation results further verified the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm. This study provides new solutions and methods for resource utilization and urban network optimization of LTL-express enterprises.