Solving a Truck Dispatching Scheduling Problem Using Branch-and-Cut
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A branch-and-cut IP solver is developed for a class of structured 0/1 integer programs arising from a truck dispatching scheduling problem. This problem involves a special class of knapsack equality constraints. Families of facets for the polytopes associated with individual knapsack constraints are identified, and in some cases, a complete characterization of a polytope is obtained. In addition, a notion of "conflict graph" is utilized to obtain an approximating node-packing polytope for the convex hull of all 0/1 solutions. The branch-and-cut solver generates cuts based on both the knapsack equality constraints and the approximating node-packing polytope, and incorporates these cuts into a tree-search algorithm that uses problem reformulation and linear programming-based heuristics at each node in the search tree to assist in the solution process. Numerical experiments are performed on large-scale real instances supplied by Texaco Trading &Transportation, Inc. The optimal schedules correspond to cost savings for the company and greater job satisfaction for drivers due to more balanced work schedules and income distribution.
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Bixby, Robert E. and Lee, Eva K.. "Solving a Truck Dispatching Scheduling Problem Using Branch-and-Cut." (1993) https://hdl.handle.net/1911/101808.