This paper describes the parallelization of a two-phase metaheuristic for the vehicle routing problem with time windows and a central depot (VRPTW). The underlying objective function combines the minimization of the number of vehicles in the first search phase of the metaheuristic and the...

The vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) is an extension of the well-known vehicle routing problem with a central depot. The objective is to design an optimal set of routes that services all customers and satisfies the given constraints, especially the time window constraints. The...

For several decades research on intelligent techniques for decision-making has represented a particular challenge, originally taken up using modest hardware equipment, which we today would consider to be extremely weak. From earliest times onwards research which was concerned with the theory and...