This article aims to minimize cycle time for a simple assembly line balancing problem type 2 by presenting a variable neighborhood strategy adaptive search method (VaNSAS) in a case study of the garment industry considering the number and types of machines used in each workstation in a simple assembly line balancing problem type 2 (SALBP-2M). The variable neighborhood strategy adaptive search method (VaNSAS) is a new method that includes five main steps, which are (1) generate a set of tracks, (2) make all tracks operate in a specified black box, (3)operate the black box, (4) update the track, and (5) repeat the second to fourth steps until the termination condition is met. The proposed methods have been tested with two groups of test instances, which are datasets of (1) SALBP-2 and (2) SALBP-2M. The computational results show that the proposed methods outperform the best existing solution found by the LINGO modeling program. Therefore, the VaNSAS method provides a better solution and features a much lower computational time.

This research article aims to solve the special case of the location routing problem (SLRP) when the objective function is the fuel consumption. The fuel consumption depends on the distance of travel and the condition of the road. The condition of the road causes the vehicle to use a different speed, which affects fuel usage. This turns the original LRP into a more difficult problem. Moreover, the volume of the goods that are produced in each node could be more or less than the capacity of the vehicle, and as the case study requires the transportation of latex, which is a sensitive good and needs to be carried within a reasonable time so that it does not form solid before being used in the latex process, the maximum time that the latex can be in the truck is limited. All of these attributes are added into the LRP and make it a special case of LRP: a so-called SLRP (a special case of location routing problem). The differential evolution algorithms (DE) are proposed to solve the SLRP. We modified two points in the original DE, which are that (1) the mutation formula is introduced and (2) the new rule of a local search is presented. We call this the modified differential evolution algorithm (MDE). From the computational result, we can see that MDE generates a 13.82% better solution than that of the original version of DE in solving the test instances.

This study presents the Location Routing Problem (LRP) for which we have created a model for the integration of locating facilities and vehicle routing decisions to solve the problem. The case study is the Palm Oil Collection Center, which is also important for the supply chain system. A mathematical model was made to minimize the total cost of a facility-opening cost, fixed cost of vehicle uses and fuel consumption cost. The fuel consumption cost relies on the distance and road conditions, in case of poor physical condition of a road, and its width, which can be affected the speed of the vehicle as well as the used fuel. Thus, we propose an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) based on heuristic for solving the LRP. The ALNS method was tested with three datasets of samples divided into small, medium and large problems. Then, the results were compared with the results from the exact method by the Lingo program. The computational study indicated that the ALNS algorithm was competitive to the results of the Lingo for all instance sizes. Moreover, the ALNS was more effective than the exact method; approximately 99% in terms of processing time. We extended this approach to solve the case study, which was considered to be the largest problem, and the ALNS algorithm was efficient with acceptable solutions and short processing time. Therefore, the proposed method provided an effective solution to manage location routing decision of the palm oil collection center.

This paper presents a methodology to solve a special case of the vehicle routing problem (VRP) called the heterogeneous fleets VRP with excessive demand of the vehicle at the pickup points, and the longest time constraint (HFVRP-EXDE-LTC). We developed two metaheuristics—a differential evolution (DE) algorithm and an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS)—to solve the problem. These two proposed methods have been designed to effectively solve a special case of VRP. From the computational results, we can see that the proposed heuristics outperformed the best practices that are currently in use. The DE yielded a 9.78% lower cost than that of the current practice (757,250 baht per year), while ALNS generated a 10.89% (906,750 baht per year) lower cost than that of current practice. Comparing the proposed heuristics, ALNS achieved a 1.01% lower cost than that of DE, as ALNS had a better mechanism that was designed to escape from the local optimal.

This research aimed to present a solution to the problem of production scheduling and assignment in broiler farms, which thus enabled the farms to achieve maximum profit. In the operation of farms, there are many factors that affect profits, such as the number of broilers being consistent with the demand of production plants, including profits from the sales and transportation costs. Therefore, we formulated a mathematical model and tested it while using three problem groups through the Lingo v.11 program. The results indicated that this mathematical model could find a suitable solution. However, finding the best solution had time constraints, which resulted in various other problems that prevented a search for an optimal solution due to time consumption exceeding 72 h. We developed an algorithm using the Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) method in order to find another possible solution using a shorter time period, which consisted of ALNS1, ALNS2, and ALNS3. These algorithms are based on a combination of the method of destruction solutions and methods accepting different solutions. We aimed to effectively solve the problems and ensure that they are appropriate for the case study, a broiler farm in Buriram. When comparing the algorithm efficiency with the Lingo v.11 program, it was found that the ALNS1 algorithm was the most suitable for finding the optimal solution in the shortest time, which resulted in a 5.74% increase in operating profits.

This paper aims to solve the location and routing problem (LRP) in the agricultural sector with the objective function of fuel cost minimization. Many farmers may have problems when transporting and selling products because of high costs and unfair prices. The proper location of standardized procurement centers and suitable routes will relieve farmers’ problems. This paper includes a realistic constraint that a farm can be visited to collect product more than once. A mathematical model was formulated to be solved by Lingo software, but when the problem size was larger, Lingo was unable to solve the problem within a reasonable processing time. The variable neighborhood strategy adaptive search (VaNSAS) is proposed to solve this LRP. The main contributions of this paper are a real case study problem and the first introduction of VaNSAS. Furthermore, the different combinations of the solution approach are proposed to prove which combination is the best algorithm. The computational results show that VaNSAS can find the solutions for all problem sizes in much less processing time compared to Lingo. In medium and large-sized instances, the VaNSAS can reduce processing times by 99.91% and 99.86%, respectively, from solutions obtained by Lingo. Finally, the proposed VaNSAS has been deployed in a case study problem to decide the best locations and transportation routes with the lowest fuel cost.