IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v46y2016i2p154-167.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Metro Meals on Wheels Treasure Valley Employs a Low-Cost Routing Tool to Improve Deliveries

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew S. Manikas

    (Management Department, College of Business, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292)

  • James R. Kroes

    (College of Business and Economics, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725)

  • Thomas F. Gattiker

    (College of Business and Economics, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725)

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss a project in which we develop a spreadsheet-based system that interfaces with a no-fee driving-directions application programming interface to quickly and accurately build a travel-time and distance matrix, and then rapidly determine near-optimal delivery-route schedules using a modified genetic algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, the method we used to create the travel matrix had not been studied previously. The tool was tested and refined in a humanitarian setting—a local branch of the Meals on Wheels Association of America (now Meals on Wheels America), an organization that combats hunger and poverty by providing food to individuals who are in need. The tool, which is currently being utilized by Metro Meals on Wheels Treasure Valley, has substantially reduced the time required to plan deliveries and has also reduced the delivery driving times by approximately 15 percent.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew S. Manikas & James R. Kroes & Thomas F. Gattiker, 2016. "Metro Meals on Wheels Treasure Valley Employs a Low-Cost Routing Tool to Improve Deliveries," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 154-167, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:46:y:2016:i:2:p:154-167
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.2015.0835
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.2015.0835
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.2015.0835?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. G. Clarke & J. W. Wright, 1964. "Scheduling of Vehicles from a Central Depot to a Number of Delivery Points," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 568-581, August.
    2. Timothy A. Carnes & Shane G. Henderson & David B. Shmoys & Mahvareh Ahghari & Russell D. MacDonald, 2013. "Mathematical Programming Guides Air-Ambulance Routing at Ornge," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 43(3), pages 232-239, May-June.
    3. Patrik Eveborn & Mikael Rönnqvist & Helga Einarsdóttir & Mats Eklund & Karin Lidén & Marie Almroth, 2009. "Operations Research Improves Quality and Efficiency in Home Care," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 18-34, February.
    4. Falasca, Mauro & Zobel, Christopher, 2012. "An optimization model for volunteer assignments in humanitarian organizations," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 250-260.
    5. Özlem Ergun & Luyi Gui & Jessica L. Heier Stamm & Pinar Keskinocak & Julie Swann, 2014. "Improving Humanitarian Operations through Technology-Enabled Collaboration," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(6), pages 1002-1014, June.
    6. Takis Varelas & Sofia Archontaki & John Dimotikalis & Osman Turan & Iraklis Lazakis & Orestis Varelas, 2013. "Optimizing Ship Routing to Maximize Fleet Revenue at Danaos," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 37-47, February.
    7. Billy E. Gillett & Leland R. Miller, 1974. "A Heuristic Algorithm for the Vehicle-Dispatch Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 340-349, April.
    8. John J. Bartholdi & Loren K. Platzman & R. Lee Collins & William H. Warden, 1983. "A Minimal Technology Routing System for Meals on Wheels," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 1-8, June.
    9. B. Mahadevan & S. Sivakumar & D. Dinesh Kumar & K. Ganeshram, 2013. "Redesigning Midday Meal Logistics for the Akshaya Patra Foundation: OR at Work in Feeding Hungry School Children," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 43(6), pages 530-546, December.
    10. Crainic, Teodor Gabriel & Laporte, Gilbert, 1997. "Planning models for freight transportation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 409-438, March.
    11. Unknown, 2005. "Forward," 2005 Conference: Slovenia in the EU - Challenges for Agriculture, Food Science and Rural Affairs, November 10-11, 2005, Moravske Toplice, Slovenia 183804, Slovenian Association of Agricultural Economists (DAES).
    12. Jessica H. McCoy & Hau L. Lee, 2014. "Using Fairness Models to Improve Equity in Health Delivery Fleet Management," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(6), pages 965-977, June.
    13. Ghiani, Gianpaolo & Guerriero, Francesca & Laporte, Gilbert & Musmanno, Roberto, 2003. "Real-time vehicle routing: Solution concepts, algorithms and parallel computing strategies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(1), pages 1-11, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gemma Berenguer & Zuo-Jun (Max) Shen, 2020. "OM Forum—Challenges and Strategies in Managing Nonprofit Operations: An Operations Management Perspective," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 888-905, September.
    2. Jesus Gonzalez-Feliu, 2009. "The N-echelon Location routing problem: concepts and methods for tactical and operational planning," Working Papers halshs-00422492, HAL.
    3. Olli Bräysy & Michel Gendreau, 2005. "Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows, Part I: Route Construction and Local Search Algorithms," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 104-118, February.
    4. Gong, Manlin & Hu, Yucong & Chen, Zhiwei & Li, Xiaopeng, 2021. "Transfer-based customized modular bus system design with passenger-route assignment optimization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    5. Emilia Grass & Janosch Ortmann & Burcu Balcik & Walter Rei, 2023. "A machine learning approach to deal with ambiguity in the humanitarian decision‐making," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(9), pages 2956-2974, September.
    6. Mohamed Cissé & Semih Yalçindag & Yannick Kergosien & Evren Sahin & Christophe Lenté & Andrea Matta, 2017. "OR problems related to Home Health Care: A review of relevant routing and scheduling problems," Post-Print hal-01736714, HAL.
    7. Okitonyumbe Y.F., Joseph & Ulungu, Berthold E.-L., 2014. "Résolution du problème multi-objectif de tournées de distribution par l’algorithme de toile d’araignées [Cobweb heuristic for Solving Multiobjective Vehicle Routing Problem]," MPRA Paper 66193, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Robbins, Lynn W., 1978. "A Modified Lockset Approach For Enhancing Routing Effectiveness," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-7, December.
    9. G. Guastaroba & M. G. Speranza & D. Vigo, 2016. "Intermediate Facilities in Freight Transportation Planning: A Survey," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 763-789, August.
    10. Okitonyumbe Y.F., Joseph & Ulungu, Berthold E.-L., 2014. "Résolution du problème multi-objectif de tournées de distribution par l’algorithme de toile d’araignées [Cobweb heuristic for Solving Multiobjective Vehicle Routing Problem]," MPRA Paper 66192, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Forma, Iris A. & Raviv, Tal & Tzur, Michal, 2015. "A 3-step math heuristic for the static repositioning problem in bike-sharing systems," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 230-247.
    12. Leloup, Emeline & Paquay, Célia & Pironet, Thierry & Oliveira, José Fernando, 2025. "A three-phase algorithm for the three-dimensional loading vehicle routing problem with split pickups and time windows," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 323(1), pages 45-61.
    13. J Faulin & A García del Valle, 2008. "Solving the capacitated vehicle routing problem using the ALGELECT electrostatic algorithm," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(12), pages 1685-1695, December.
    14. Julia Rieck & Jürgen Zimmermann & Matthias Glagow, 2007. "Tourenplanung mittelständischer Speditionsunternehmen in Stückgutkooperationen: Modellierung und heuristische Lösungsverfahren," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 365-388, January.
    15. Gu, Liyi & Ryzhov, Ilya O. & Eftekhar, Mahyar, 2021. "The facts on the ground: Evaluating humanitarian fleet management policies using simulation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(2), pages 681-702.
    16. Jie, Wanchen & Yang, Jun & Zhang, Min & Huang, Yongxi, 2019. "The two-echelon capacitated electric vehicle routing problem with battery swapping stations: Formulation and efficient methodology," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(3), pages 879-904.
    17. Alberto Ceselli & Michael Gatto & Marco E. Lübbecke & Marc Nunkesser & Heiko Schilling, 2008. "Optimizing the Cargo Express Service of Swiss Federal Railways," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 450-465, November.
    18. Qi, Mingyao & Lin, Wei-Hua & Li, Nan & Miao, Lixin, 2012. "A spatiotemporal partitioning approach for large-scale vehicle routing problems with time windows," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 248-257.
    19. Houda Derbel & Bassem Jarboui & Rim Bhiri, 2019. "A skewed general variable neighborhood search algorithm with fixed threshold for the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 272(1), pages 243-272, January.
    20. Senay Solak & Christina Scherrer & Ahmed Ghoniem, 2014. "The stop-and-drop problem in nonprofit food distribution networks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 221(1), pages 407-426, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:orinte:v:46:y:2016:i:2:p:154-167. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.