A hybrid heuristic algorithm for vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery considering social criteria

Nowadays, industries are seeking to increase management efficiencies and improve sustainability performance by reducing environmental and social impacts. Flour industry is one of the largest industries that supply bread. Supply of bread is one of the most sensitive activities of the government. Therefore, planning for the timely delivery of this need is one of the most important issue in planning the country. So, we are trying to answer how can decrease the flour shipping costs and how can find optimal routes via an optimal distribution system. In this research, we present a vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery (VRPSPD) considering social awareness that is extended as a VRPSPD. In particular, one of our innovation is that a quantity of pickup, as a decision variable, is obtained under the effect of social awareness. VRPSPD model is a hard indeterminate polynomial problem. We solve the developed model by using a proposed adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm. Computational efforts on benchmark instances indicate the validation of the model and also prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. Finally, we assess the distribution system of a flour factory in Tehran as a case study by comparing the current and new systems. The results prove the applicability and efficiency of the proposed model and its solution in reality. At final, we generated instances under the changes in critical parameters that show a significant level of cost saving and offers a better solution to decision makers.