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Inventory Routing

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Book cover The Vehicle Routing Problem: Latest Advances and New Challenges

Part of the book series: Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces ((ORCS,volume 43))

Summary

In this chapter, we introduce inventory routing problems. Inventory routing problems are among the more important and more challenging extensions of vehicle routing problems, in which inventory control and routing decisions have to be made simultaneously. The objective is to determine distribution policies that minimize the total cost, i.e., the sum of inventory holding and transportation costs, while avoiding stock-outs and respecting storage capacity limitations. All inventory routing problems have some common characteristics, but they may also have a number of significantly different characteristics. As a result, a variety of solution approaches has been developed. We discuss the various characteristics of inventory routing problems in order to create an understanding of and instill an appreciation for the complexities of inventory routing problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Quantitative Methods, University of Brescia, Italy

    Luca Bertazzi & Maria Grazia Speranza

  2. H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0205

    Martin Savelsbergh

Authors
  1. Luca Bertazzi
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  2. Martin Savelsbergh
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  3. Maria Grazia Speranza
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Correspondence to Luca Bertazzi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Bruce Golden  & S. Raghavan  & 

  2. American University, Washington, DC, USA

    Edward Wasil

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Bertazzi, L., Savelsbergh, M., Speranza, M.G. (2008). Inventory Routing. In: Golden, B., Raghavan, S., Wasil, E. (eds) The Vehicle Routing Problem: Latest Advances and New Challenges. Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces, vol 43. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77778-8_3

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