Location routing problem solving: A case study Thailand Royal Project

Abstract

This study presents a mathematical model for resolving the location routing problem of agricultural product transportation inroyal projects in Thailand. This work aims to minimize the distance between pickup subcenter point locations and transport route links in each area. The difference in product amount in each area affects the product's capacity in the subcenter and its transport tothe royal project's main center under the conditions of weight score classification depot, depot capacity, delivery demand, truck capacity, and transport distance. Due to the similar performance of each royal project, selecting a suitable subcenter is difficult. As a result, the mathematical model is created to solve the decision-making problem of selecting the subcenter for pickup and transportation. The mathematical model assumption is tested by the Lingo V16 program, which uses an exact method to find the appropriate subcenter point selection on the five instants in each size of the problem. The testing revealed that the mathematical model could choose an appropriate subcenter point in a small-scale problem effectively and quickly. However, it is not suitable for problem-solving in a medium or large-scale problem. The increasing number of data points influences solution generation speed and quality. The exact method of problem-solving with the Lingo program is unsuitable for problem-solving when the problem is complex and has several parameters that change depending on the current situation. In order to achieve faster algorithms, the best solution-finding method will be improved in the future with a meta-heuristics approach to algorithm design.

Keywords

• location routing problem
• royal project
• transportation
• agriculture product