From single path to Vehicle Routing: The retailer delivery approach

In this paper a procedure for simulating goods movement in an urban area is analysed. Assuming that the decision maker is the retailer, a macro-architecture is proposed to simulate retailer movements. The macro-architecture consists of two levels: the first is a commodity-based demand model that simulates goods movement in terms of quantity from wholesalers to end consumers through retailers; the second can shift from a One-to-One Problem (OOP) to a Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) that simulates the delivery process. The OOP is investigated using the mono-path and multi-path approach, while the VRP is investigated considering a combination of OOP (both in mono-path and in multi-path approaches). © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.