Abstract
We introduce, formulate, and solve the Generalized Median Tour Problem, which is motivated in the health supplies distribution for urban and rural areas. A region comprises districts that must be served by a specialized vehicle visiting its health facilities. We propose a distribution strategy to serve these health facilities efficiently. A single tour is determined that visits a set of health facilities (nodes) composed of disjoint clusters. The tour must visit at least one facility within each cluster, and the unvisited facilities are assigned to the closest facility on the tour. We minimize the sum of the total tour distance and the access distance traveled by the unvisited facilities. Efficient formulations are proposed and several solution strategies are developed to avoid subtours based on branch & cut. We solve a set of test instances and a real-world instance to show the efficiency of our solution approaches.
Highlights
Humanity is frequently exposed to different types of natural disasters or sanitary crises worldwide, such as earthquakes, tsunamis (e.g., Chile 1960 and 2010, Japan 2011 and Indonesia 2004), tornadoes (e.g., Katrina 2005 and Irma 2017), and pandemics (e.g., Covid-19, H1N1, SARS, MERS, etc.)
In order to address the previously discussed distribution network design problem, this paper aims at introducing, modeling, and solving the Generalized Median Tour Problem (GMTP)
We propose a combination of the Gavish-Graves constraints and packing cuts (GGC + Packing) for solving the GMTP
Summary
Humanity is frequently exposed to different types of natural disasters or sanitary crises worldwide, such as earthquakes, tsunamis (e.g., Chile 1960 and 2010, Japan 2011 and Indonesia 2004), tornadoes (e.g., Katrina 2005 and Irma 2017), and pandemics (e.g., Covid-19, H1N1, SARS, MERS, etc.). In the case of natural disasters, the main challenge, after it occurs, is to redesign, repair, or completely restore the distribution networks. In a sanitary crisis, the need for adapting and supplying the existing health facilities is required to cover and protect affected inhabitants and regions in a short time. The aim is to avoid large transportation distances and times, while yielding an effective, efficient, and fast distribution of the required health supplies.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
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 call