Alternatives to Vehicle Routing Planning Through Exact and Approximate Methods

T:Nowadays, businesses believe in the importance of logistics to increase customer satisfaction and economic revenues. One of the most important aspects within Supply Chain Management (SCM) is distribution planning. For this, routing and network models are frequently used. However, as the number of locations to be served within a network increases, so is its complexity. In such cases, special methods and software are needed to provide the best solutions while being able to cope with the complexity of the problem within reasonable time. In this work two solving alternatives are explored for the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), which is one of the most important routing planning models with the logistic field. These alternatives consist of an evolutionary metaheuristic and an exact method, and their suitability are assessed by considering the quality of the solutions (routes of minimum distance or cost) and computational time. The advantages, disadvantages, similarities and differences between these methods are analyzed, providing support for their use within the decision-making processes of a case study.