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Logic-Based Decomposition Methods for the Travelling Purchaser Problem

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Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming (CPAIOR 2016)

Abstract

We present novel branch-and-check and logic-based Benders decomposition techniques for the Travelling Purchaser Problem, an important optimization problem with applications in vehicle routing, logistics, and warehouse management. Our master problem determines a set of markets and directed travel arcs that satisfy product purchase constraints with relaxed travel costs. Our subproblem identifies subtours within this master assignment and produces a set of generalized subtour elimination cuts. We show that the proposed technique demonstrates strong performance on the asymmetric problem variants, finding optimal solutions to previously unsolved instances, while performing competitively on a number of symmetric problem classes. Furthermore, our model is implemented unchanged for the four problem variants whereas other state-of-the-art approaches are variant-specific.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The limit of one per iteration is due to the depot inclusion condition.

  2. 2.

    Experiments using dynamic variable creation in SCIP [1] show a relative improvement in B&C compared to LBBD though both CPLEX implementations are faster.

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Correspondence to Kyle E. C. Booth .

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Booth, K.E.C., Tran, T.T., Beck, J.C. (2016). Logic-Based Decomposition Methods for the Travelling Purchaser Problem. In: Quimper, CG. (eds) Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming. CPAIOR 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9676. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33954-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33954-2_5

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