Vehicle routing -- a case study

This report presents a solution procedure to accomplish efficient routing of vehicles. Specifically, the routing of delivery trucks to transport bulk poultry feed from a single feed mill to various customer farms located in the surrounding region at nearly 50 miles radius was studied. The goal was to minimize the total distance traveled for all routes.

The project was divided into two phases. In the first phase, truck delivery records were developed through a system of forms over a period of one week at Purdue, Inc. of Salisbury, Maryland. These records were used for preparation of the data required in the second phase of the project. In the second phase, the 'Sweep' Algorithm by Gillette and Miller was used to generate truck routes on a digital computer.

The results obtained through the recommended solution procedure were compared with the routes designed by the dispatcher at Purdue, Inc. These results showed significant savings in total distance traveled over all routes.