IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/oropre/v45y1997i1p102-115.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heuristics for a One-Warehouse Multiretailer Distribution Problem with Performance Bounds

Author

Listed:
  • Yale Herer

    (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel)

  • Robin Roundy

    (Cornell University, Ithaca, New York)

Abstract

We investigate the one warehouse multiretailer distribution problem with traveling salesman tour vehicle routing costs. We model the system in the framework of the more general production/distribution system with arbitrary non-negative monotone joint order costs. We develop polynomial time heuristics whose policy costs are provably close to the cost of an optimal policy. In particular, we show that given a submodular function which is close to the true order cost then we can find a power-of-two policy whose cost is only moderately greater than the cost of an optimal policy. Since such submodular approximations exist for traveling salesman tour vehicle routing costs we present a detailed description of heuristics for the one warehouse multiretailer distribution problem.We formulate a nonpolynomial dynamic program that computes optimal power-of-two policies for the one warehouse multiretailer system assuming only that the order costs are non-negative monotone.Finally, we perform computational tests which compare our heuristics to optimal power of two policies for problems of up to sixteen retailers. We also perform computational tests on larger problems; these tests give us insight into what policies one should employ.

Suggested Citation

  • Yale Herer & Robin Roundy, 1997. "Heuristics for a One-Warehouse Multiretailer Distribution Problem with Performance Bounds," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 45(1), pages 102-115, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:45:y:1997:i:1:p:102-115
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.45.1.102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/opre.45.1.102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/opre.45.1.102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anton J. Kleywegt & Vijay S. Nori & Martin W. P. Savelsbergh, 2004. "Dynamic Programming Approximations for a Stochastic Inventory Routing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(1), pages 42-70, February.
    2. Yu Zhang & Vidyadhar Kulkarni, 2018. "Automated Teller Machine Replenishment Policies with Submodular Costs," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 517-530, July.
    3. Jaeheon Jung & Kamlesh Mathur, 2007. "An Efficient Heuristic Algorithm for a Two-Echelon Joint Inventory and Routing Problem," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(1), pages 55-73, February.
    4. Jia Shu, 2010. "An Efficient Greedy Heuristic for Warehouse-Retailer Network Design Optimization," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(2), pages 183-192, May.
    5. Chung-Piaw Teo & Jia Shu, 2004. "Warehouse-Retailer Network Design Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 52(3), pages 396-408, June.
    6. Luca Bertazzi, 2008. "Analysis of Direct Shipping Policies in an Inventory-Routing Problem with Discrete Shipping Times," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 748-762, April.
    7. Li, Xiuhui & Wang, Qinan, 2007. "Coordination mechanisms of supply chain systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 179(1), pages 1-16, May.
    8. N Rizk & A Martel & S D'Amours, 2008. "Synchronized production–distribution planning in a single-plant multi-destination network," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(1), pages 90-104, January.
    9. Leandro C. Coelho & Jean-François Cordeau & Gilbert Laporte, 2014. "Thirty Years of Inventory Routing," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(1), pages 1-19, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:45:y:1997:i:1:p:102-115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.