A Bi-criteria heuristic for the vehicle-routing problem with time windows

This paper describes a heuristic for the Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Problem with Time Windows (VRSPTW). Unique to this problem are the so-called time windows, i.e. time slots during which the vehicle must arrive at the customer to deliver the goods. The heuristic builds on the well-known Clarke and Wright Savings method with an additional criterion that models an intuitive view of time influence on route building. Experiments show that this added criterion yields significantly better solutions to the VRSPTW than pure routing heuristics, and also compares favorably to other new heuristics, developed specifically for the VRSPTW