Mobile Distribution Network Design
Hunkar Toyoglu
Turkish Land Forces
In the first study, we demonstrate through an extensive literature review that the existing models are not capable of handling the specifics of the ammunition distribution. To this end, we propose a novel three-layer commodity-flow location routing formulation that distributes multiple products, respects hard time windows, allows demand points to be supplied by more than one vehicle or depot, and locates facilities at two different layers. We derive several valid inequalities to speed up the solution time of our model, illustrate the performance of the model in several realistically sized scenarios, and report encouraging results. Finally, we introduce a dynamic model that designs the distribution system in consecutive time periods for the entire combat duration.
In the second study, we propose a different formulation approach than the common arc-based product-flow (Arc-BPF) approach in the literature. We associate product amounts to the nodes of the network resulting in a node-based product-flow (Node-BPF) formulation. Our main objective is to develop LRP models with fewer constraints and variables, which can be solved more efficiently. To introduce the proposed approach, we reformulate the ammunition distribution system (a complex four-index Arc-BPF LRP model) as a three-index Node-BPF model, which computationally outperforms the former. We then introduce a heuristic method.
