Matheuristic Solution Approaches for the Multi-Product Inventory Routing Problem with Multi-Compartment Vehicles

We will develop solution methods to satisfy customer requests in a timely, cost-effective manner. Customers request products with different rates and have separate capacities for each product. Multi-compartment vehicles are used for distribution, and only one product can be transported in one compartment. Since customers do not consume products at the same rate in this Multi-Compartment Inventory Routing Problem (MC-IRP), distribution needs may arise at different times for different products and the supplier may visit the same customer several times. Instead of a simple approach, such as dispatching the vehicle with high payload as in classical IRP, a complex decision process requiring determining the amount loaded for each product in each tour and delivery volume to each customer arises. Furthermore, it is important to ensure coordination between products as they share common capacity.