Applying the issue of the street vendor to routing motor vehicles using the genetic algorithm (a case study on the food distribution center in Misurata city)

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Determining the shortest route in marketing or distribution operations is one of the important and strategic decisions of marketing management. It is also considered a complex decision; this is due to the different routes and the large number of markets to be visited. The general scenario of the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) assumes that there is a traveling salesman who has many locations that he would like to visit, where he visits each location only once, and that the starting point is the same as the ending point. It requires the seller to choose the shortest route that he can pass through, which enables him to pass through the maximum number of locations at the lowest possible cost

In this study, a Genetic Algorithms (GA) to solve the problem of Traveling Salesman (TSP) has been introduced. The developed algorithm has been built using the functions and tools available in MATLAB. The performance of the algorithm has been compared to the published research, where the results of the comparison showed that the algorithm is quite effective in determining the shortest route and the value of the objective function. In addition, the algorithm has been applied in practice on Alwaseet center for food distribution to find the shortest overall route for vehicles by determining the starting point for a number of points (markets) to be reached. Distances calculated between those points, taking into account the shortest path between them. The results of the genetic algorithm (GA) used in the practical study has shown a major improvement as the optimal path was noticeably shorter than the usual path of the driver with a difference of 17.65 km, i.e. that the percentage of improvement of the proposed path is 27.67%. The study has recommended the necessity of using modern and smart scientific methods within the national institutions, especially in the marketing departments, to determine the shortest routes for the distribution vehicles.