Optimization of Vehicle Routing Problem with Load Balancing and Time Windows in Distribution

Vehicle route scheduling is an important activity in supply chain management. It is virtually a kind of vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). An improved model of VRPTW with load balancing was built up. It aims to achieve minimum vehicles, the shortest distribution distance, load balancing and customer´s time demand. The algorithm was designed to two-stage. The first Stage was used to find the vehicle route schedule through particle swarm optimization. An improved inertial coefficient was considered to enhance the search speed. The second Stage was implemented for load balancing. The optimal or sub-optimal solution can be found efficiently through the proposed model for medium size vehicle routing problem.