A vehicle routing problem of both refrigerated- and general-type vehicles for perishable food products delivery

Abstract This study examines a vehicle routing problem that encompasses both refrigerated- and general-type of vehicles for multi-commodity perishable food products delivery. It is assumed that both the location and the volume of the ordered food products for each customer are known. Furthermore, the capacity, maximum delivery time, and available number of both refrigerated- and general-type of vehicles are predetermined. By reflecting these characteristics, we develop a nonlinear mathematical model and a heuristic algorithm to generate efficient vehicle routings with the objective of maximizing the total level of the customer satisfaction which is dependent on the freshness of delivered food products. In addition, numerical examples and sensitivity analysis are provided to show the validity of the model. The aim of this study is to confirm the performance and the availability of refrigerated-type vehicle for perishable food products delivery compared with general-type one.