Journal of Transportation Research

Journal of Transportation Research

A New Approach in the Vehicle Routing in Mobile Networks with Flexibility in Response to Uncertain Demand

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Ph.D., Grad., Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.
2 Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.
Abstract
The advancement of technology and communications has provided the platform for the mobile networks to create the effective services in the social services debate. One of these mobile networks is about providing on-site medical services to the clients. The topic of the vehicle routing is an integral part of this type of organization. This research proposes a new approach in addressing the problem of vehicle routing based on the mobile medical services network and considering flexibility in responding to uncertain demands. Solving the model in both the traditional and the corresponding models of this study and comparing the results clearly shows that this model, in addition to the better and faster customer service, leads to more and more customer satisfaction and a significant reduction in the costs. Cost reduction is a potential goal of all companies as service levels increase, and this is of the particular importance to this research.
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