Bin Packing Problem with Time Lags

We introduce and motivate a variant of the bin packing problem where bins are assigned to time slots, and minimum and maximum lags are required between some pairs of items. We suggest two integer programming formulations for the problem: a compact one, and a stronger formulation with an exponential number of variables and constraints. We propose a branch-cut-and-price approach which exploits the latter formulation. For this purpose, we devise separation algorithms based on a mathematical characterization of feasible assignments for two important special cases of the problem. Computational experiments are reported for instances inspired from a real-case application of chemical treatment planning in vineyards, as well as for literature instances for special cases of the problem. The experimental results show the efficiency of our branch-cut-and-price approach, as it outperforms the compact formulation of newly proposed instances, and is able to obtain improved lower and upper bounds for literature instances