Designing the milk collection network using integrated location routing approach

Abstract

Milk collection remains a challenging problem for dairy processors around the world. Previous work on milk collection network has not considered solving the location and routing problem simultaneously. The integrated location routing literature on the other hand remains silent on its application to the milk collection problem. We bridge this gap by considering the integrated location routing problem in the context of a milk collection network. The goal of this paper is to analyze the effect of simultaneously solving the location and routing problem vis-à-vis solving location first and routing second on the optimal solution and computational time. We develop a math formulation for the milk collection network location routing problem (MCNLRP) and for the milk collection network vehicle fleet mix problem (MCNVFMP). We then develop an algorithm for solving MCNLRP and compare the results of the algorithm with the optimal solution for various instances of the problem.