Pub Date : 2025-09-24DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107280
Elena Fernández , Jörg Kalcsics
This paper introduces the Periodic Service Scheduling Problem with Non-uniform Demands, in which the best service policy for a set of customers with periodically recurring demand through a given finite planning horizon has to be determined. Service to customers is provided at every time period by a set of potential service providers, each of them with an activation cost and a capacity. The decisions to be made include the servers to be activated at each time period together with a service schedule and server allocation for every customer that respect the periodicity of customer demand and the capacity of the activated servers, which minimize the total cost of the activated servers. We give a first Integer Linear Programming formulation with one set of decision variables associated with each of the decisions of the problem. Afterwards, we develop a logic-based Benders reformulation where one set of variables is projected out and constraints that guarantee the feasibility of the solutions are introduced. The separation problem for the new set of constraints is studied, and an exact Branch & Logic-Benders-Cut algorithm for the reformulation is proposed together with several variations and enhancements. The particular cases in which all servers are identical and in which all parameters are time-invariant are also studied. Extensive computational experiments assess the superiority of the logic-based Benders reformulation over the first formulation.
{"title":"On the periodic service scheduling problem with non-uniform demands","authors":"Elena Fernández , Jörg Kalcsics","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107280","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107280","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper introduces the Periodic Service Scheduling Problem with Non-uniform Demands, in which the best service policy for a set of customers with periodically recurring demand through a given finite planning horizon has to be determined. Service to customers is provided at every time period by a set of potential service providers, each of them with an activation cost and a capacity. The decisions to be made include the servers to be activated at each time period together with a service schedule and server allocation for every customer that respect the periodicity of customer demand and the capacity of the activated servers, which minimize the total cost of the activated servers. We give a first Integer Linear Programming formulation with one set of decision variables associated with each of the decisions of the problem. Afterwards, we develop a logic-based Benders reformulation where one set of variables is projected out and constraints that guarantee the feasibility of the solutions are introduced. The separation problem for the new set of constraints is studied, and an exact Branch & Logic-Benders-Cut algorithm for the reformulation is proposed together with several variations and enhancements. The particular cases in which all servers are identical and in which all parameters are time-invariant are also studied. Extensive computational experiments assess the superiority of the logic-based Benders reformulation over the first formulation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107280"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145155374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-19DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107283
Lorenzo Bonasera , Emilio Carrizosa
Tree ensembles are widely used machine learning models, known for their effectiveness in supervised classification and regression tasks. Their performance derives from aggregating predictions of multiple decision trees, which are renowned for their interpretability properties. However, tree ensemble models do not reliably exhibit interpretable output. Our work aims to extract an optimized list of rules from a trained tree ensemble, providing the user with a condensed, interpretable model that retains most of the predictive power of the full model. Our approach consists of solving a set partitioning problem formulated through Integer Programming. The extracted list of rules is unweighted and defines a partition of the training data, assigning each instance to exactly one rule, and thereby simplifying the explanation process. The proposed method works with tabular or time series data, for both classification and regression tasks, and its flexible formulation can include any arbitrary loss or regularization functions. Our computational experiments offer statistically significant evidence that our method performs comparably to several rule extraction methods in terms of predictive performance and fidelity towards the tree ensemble. Moreover, we empirically show that the proposed method effectively extracts interpretable rules from tree ensembles that are designed for time series data.
{"title":"A unified approach to extract interpretable rules from tree ensembles via Integer Programming","authors":"Lorenzo Bonasera , Emilio Carrizosa","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107283","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107283","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tree ensembles are widely used machine learning models, known for their effectiveness in supervised classification and regression tasks. Their performance derives from aggregating predictions of multiple decision trees, which are renowned for their interpretability properties. However, tree ensemble models do not reliably exhibit interpretable output. Our work aims to extract an optimized list of rules from a trained tree ensemble, providing the user with a condensed, interpretable model that retains most of the predictive power of the full model. Our approach consists of solving a set partitioning problem formulated through Integer Programming. The extracted list of rules is unweighted and defines a partition of the training data, assigning each instance to exactly one rule, and thereby simplifying the explanation process. The proposed method works with tabular or time series data, for both classification and regression tasks, and its flexible formulation can include any arbitrary loss or regularization functions. Our computational experiments offer statistically significant evidence that our method performs comparably to several rule extraction methods in terms of predictive performance and fidelity towards the tree ensemble. Moreover, we empirically show that the proposed method effectively extracts interpretable rules from tree ensembles that are designed for time series data.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107283"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145119196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
One of the main production-related costs in manufacturing is inventory cost since manufacturing firms allocate a vast area to raw material, semi-processed, and final products in production lines and warehouses. Reducing the volume of these inventories leads to lower production-related costs. This paper presents a novel mathematical model for zero-inventory production scheduling. In this model, the jobs arrive at fixed times and are scheduled on a set of unrelated machines. The jobs have different operations that need to be processed one by one. Since the system has zero inventory, the jobs must be processed immediately upon arrival. Also, whenever a job’s operation is complete, the following operation must instantly start (no wait time). That operation is outsourced if no machines are available to process any of the job’s operations. The jobs’ operations are dispatched to the machines from a dispatching center, and there is a latency between the dispatching center, the machines, and the outsourcing center. We present a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model to formulate this problem. Then, the MINLP model is turned into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model by linearizing its constraints. Since many production scheduling problems are known to be NP-hard, particularly those involving unrelated parallel machines, precedence constraints, and time-dependent decisions like ours, we adopt two metaheuristics to solve the problem for large-scale cases where exact methods are computationally inefficient. The first is a Genetic Algorithm (GA), and the second is a Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm. The performance of these algorithms is tested against the optimal solutions obtained from CPLEX for a set of small-scale problems. We consider a real case study, an image processing system, to validate the proposed developments (the MILP model and the GA). The results show that the presented model and algorithm can reduce the system’s total cost by about 12.57% compared to the existing online dispatching rules.
{"title":"A novel mathematical model for the scheduling of a zero inventory production: an application of process scheduling in fog computing","authors":"Mani Sharifi , Sharareh Taghipour , Abdolreza Abhari , Maciej Rysz","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107284","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107284","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>One of the main production-related costs in manufacturing is inventory cost since manufacturing firms allocate a vast area to raw material, semi-processed, and final products in production lines and warehouses. Reducing the volume of these inventories leads to lower production-related costs. This paper presents a novel mathematical model for zero-inventory production scheduling. In this model, the jobs arrive at fixed times and are scheduled on a set of unrelated machines. The jobs have different operations that need to be processed one by one. Since the system has zero inventory, the jobs must be processed immediately upon arrival. Also, whenever a job’s operation is complete, the following operation must instantly start (no wait time). That operation is outsourced if no machines are available to process any of the job’s operations. The jobs’ operations are dispatched to the machines from a dispatching center, and there is a latency between the dispatching center, the machines, and the outsourcing center. We present a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model to formulate this problem. Then, the MINLP model is turned into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model by linearizing its constraints. Since many production scheduling problems are known to be NP-hard, particularly those involving unrelated parallel machines, precedence constraints, and time-dependent decisions like ours, we adopt two metaheuristics to solve the problem for large-scale cases where exact methods are computationally inefficient. The first is a Genetic Algorithm (GA), and the second is a Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm. The performance of these algorithms is tested against the optimal solutions obtained from CPLEX for a set of small-scale problems. We consider a real case study, an image processing system, to validate the proposed developments (the MILP model and the GA). The results show that the presented model and algorithm can reduce the system’s total cost by about 12.57% compared to the existing online dispatching rules.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107284"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145119195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frequent product development is a solution to the shortened product lifecycles in the consumer electronics industry. It enables companies to maintain competitiveness and strengthen their market share. However, environmental concerns bring reverse logistics practices into focus. A take-back policy is a strategic reverse logistics activity known to foster market share; however, it poses various challenges and uncertainties. Considering uncertain demand, we introduced an innovative adoption model with two distinct take-back policies, trade-in and credit, to address challenges in multi-generation production planning. Inspired by real-world practices of companies like Apple and Samsung, our model first examines how trade-in programs drive repeat purchases and enhance market share, with credit-based programs to attract new customers. It then captures changes in demand, production planning, recovery decisions, and internal competition among multiple product generations. Distinct from previous conclusions, this study explores how producers can strategically manage demand for new generations to slow diffusion, thereby increasing refurbishment and recycling volumes over time. Our findings highlight the pivotal role of adaptive pricing strategies and production scalability in maximizing profitability and promoting sustainability in competitive high-tech industries.
{"title":"Optimizing high-tech product take-back schemes in a closed-loop supply chain","authors":"Fatemeh Keshavarz-Ghorbani , Mohamad Y. Jaber , Seyed Hamid Reza Pasandideh","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107282","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107282","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Frequent product development is a solution to the shortened product lifecycles in the consumer electronics industry. It enables companies to maintain competitiveness and strengthen their market share. However, environmental concerns bring reverse logistics practices into focus. A take-back policy is a strategic reverse logistics activity known to foster market share; however, it poses various challenges and uncertainties. Considering uncertain demand, we introduced an innovative adoption model with two distinct take-back policies, trade-in and credit, to address challenges in multi-generation production planning. Inspired by real-world practices of companies like Apple and Samsung, our model first examines how trade-in programs drive repeat purchases and enhance market share, with credit-based programs to attract new customers. It then captures changes in demand, production planning, recovery decisions, and internal competition among multiple product generations. Distinct from previous conclusions, this study explores how producers can strategically manage demand for new generations to slow diffusion, thereby increasing refurbishment and recycling volumes over time. Our findings highlight the pivotal role of adaptive pricing strategies and production scalability in maximizing profitability and promoting sustainability in competitive high-tech industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107282"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-11DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107275
Elson Cibaku , İ. Esra Büyüktahtakın
We present a new adaptive reinforcement learning (RL) approach, integrated with a K-means clustering algorithm and guided by simulated annealing, to address the capacitated vehicle routing for vaccine distribution (CVRVD) problem. This integrated method provides an efficient and scalable solution for optimizing vaccine distribution logistics. By incorporating cost factors related to travel distance, inventory levels, and penalty terms – while adhering to delivery time windows – our approach improves both operational efficiency and vaccine allocation effectiveness. Experimental results demonstrate that our K-means supported RL algorithm significantly outperforms traditional solvers in tackling this NP-hard problem, particularly in large-scale scenarios. Specifically, our approach can efficiently solve CVRVD instances with up to 1,000 facilities—scenarios that are computationally intractable for exact methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the adaptive K-means supported RL algorithm using data from New Jersey, USA, where facility-level vaccination data were available through the state’s Immunization Information System. Beyond vaccine distribution, our method has broad applicability in logistics and transportation, enabling more efficient and cost-effective allocation of critical resources such as vaccines and medical supplies.
{"title":"An adaptive K-means and reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm to effective vaccine distribution","authors":"Elson Cibaku , İ. Esra Büyüktahtakın","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107275","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107275","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a new adaptive reinforcement learning (RL) approach, integrated with a K-means clustering algorithm and guided by simulated annealing, to address the capacitated vehicle routing for vaccine distribution (CVRVD) problem. This integrated method provides an efficient and scalable solution for optimizing vaccine distribution logistics. By incorporating cost factors related to travel distance, inventory levels, and penalty terms – while adhering to delivery time windows – our approach improves both operational efficiency and vaccine allocation effectiveness. Experimental results demonstrate that our K-means supported RL algorithm significantly outperforms traditional solvers in tackling this NP-hard problem, particularly in large-scale scenarios. Specifically, our approach can efficiently solve CVRVD instances with up to 1,000 facilities—scenarios that are computationally intractable for exact methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the adaptive K-means supported RL algorithm using data from New Jersey, USA, where facility-level vaccination data were available through the state’s Immunization Information System. Beyond vaccine distribution, our method has broad applicability in logistics and transportation, enabling more efficient and cost-effective allocation of critical resources such as vaccines and medical supplies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107275"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-10DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107279
Yongchun Wang , Qingjin Peng , Zhen Wang , Shuiquan Huang , Zhengkai Xu , Chuanzhen Huang , Baosu Guo
Heuristic methods provide a computationally efficient framework for addressing two-dimensional irregular packing problems, particularly in resource-constrained industrial settings. As a typical combinatorial optimization problem, irregular packing exhibits exponential growth in computational complexity with increasing workpiece counts, while the solution space dynamically reconfigures due to geometric variability among workpieces. Although heuristic algorithms can generate feasible layouts within acceptable timeframes, their reliance on fixed search rule limits adaptability to diverse scenarios, necessitating more flexible approaches. In this paper, a hyper-heuristic algorithm based on Q-Learning is proposed to solve open dimension packing problems, including one-open and two-open dimension problems. Q-Learning is adopted as the high-level strategy for its ability to optimize low-level heuristic selection through reward-driven experience accumulation. The method incorporates a mixed encoding method for solution representation, four specialized low-level heuristic operators, a linear population decline mechanism, and an elite preservation strategy to balance exploration–exploitation. The Q-Learning controller dynamically selects operators by updating the Q-table based on Bellman’s equation. The proposed algorithm is compared to some advanced algorithms in general datasets. The results show that our method has better performance and applicability.
{"title":"Q-learning-based hyper-heuristic algorithm for open dimension irregular packing problems","authors":"Yongchun Wang , Qingjin Peng , Zhen Wang , Shuiquan Huang , Zhengkai Xu , Chuanzhen Huang , Baosu Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107279","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107279","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Heuristic methods provide a computationally efficient framework for addressing two-dimensional irregular packing problems, particularly in resource-constrained industrial settings. As a typical combinatorial optimization problem, irregular packing exhibits exponential growth in computational complexity with increasing workpiece counts, while the solution space dynamically reconfigures due to geometric variability among workpieces. Although heuristic algorithms can generate feasible layouts within acceptable timeframes, their reliance on fixed search rule limits adaptability to diverse scenarios, necessitating more flexible approaches. In this paper, a hyper-heuristic algorithm based on Q-Learning is proposed to solve open dimension packing problems, including one-open and two-open dimension problems. Q-Learning is adopted as the high-level strategy for its ability to optimize low-level heuristic selection through reward-driven experience accumulation. The method incorporates a mixed encoding method for solution representation, four specialized low-level heuristic operators, a linear population decline mechanism, and an elite preservation strategy to balance exploration–exploitation. The Q-Learning controller dynamically selects operators by updating the Q-table based on Bellman’s equation. The proposed algorithm is compared to some advanced algorithms in general datasets. The results show that our method has better performance and applicability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107279"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-10DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107278
Ali Ahmadi , Masoud Fakhimi , Carin Magnusson
Modelling & Simulation (M&S) and Machine Learning (ML) methodologies have undergone significant advancements, enabling transformative applications across various industries. The integration of M&S and ML into a Hybrid M&S-ML approach leverages the unique strengths of both fields, offering enhanced model precision, improved efficiency, and more effective decision support. This review explores the increasing convergence of ML algorithms with traditional M&S methods- namely Agent-Based Modelling & Simulation, Discrete Event Simulation, and System Dynamics- in healthcare applications. Through a systematic review of 90 relevant studies, this article provides a comprehensive synthesis of the current state-of-the-art Hybrid M&S-ML in healthcare. Specifically, it examines the M&S and ML methodologies employed, associated software tools and programming languages, analyses integration patterns and data exchange mechanisms, and explores application domains, as well as the types and motivations for hybridisation. Key findings highlight prominent methodological and technical trends, as well as opportunities for combining M&S with ML to address healthcare challenges. These insights provide direction for modellers and data scientists in developing hybrid M&S–ML approaches that more effectively combine simulation capabilities with data-driven learning. The review also demonstrates the potential of such approaches to advance methodological innovation and support evidence-based decision-making in diverse healthcare contexts.
{"title":"Hybrid modelling using simulation and machine learning in healthcare","authors":"Ali Ahmadi , Masoud Fakhimi , Carin Magnusson","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107278","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107278","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Modelling & Simulation (M&S) and Machine Learning (ML) methodologies have undergone significant advancements, enabling transformative applications across various industries. The integration of M&S and ML into a Hybrid M&S-ML approach leverages the unique strengths of both fields, offering enhanced model precision, improved efficiency, and more effective decision support. This review explores the increasing convergence of ML algorithms with traditional M&S methods- namely Agent-Based Modelling & Simulation, Discrete Event Simulation, and System Dynamics- in healthcare applications. Through a systematic review of 90 relevant studies, this article provides a comprehensive synthesis of the current state-of-the-art Hybrid M&S-ML in healthcare. Specifically, it examines the M&S and ML methodologies employed, associated software tools and programming languages, analyses integration patterns and data exchange mechanisms, and explores application domains, as well as the types and motivations for hybridisation. Key findings highlight prominent methodological and technical trends, as well as opportunities for combining M&S with ML to address healthcare challenges. These insights provide direction for modellers and data scientists in developing hybrid M&S–ML approaches that more effectively combine simulation capabilities with data-driven learning. The review also demonstrates the potential of such approaches to advance methodological innovation and support evidence-based decision-making in diverse healthcare contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107278"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145155372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107277
Bülent Çatay , İhsan Sadati
Çatay and Sadati [An improved matheuristic for solving the electric vehicle routing problem with time windows and synchronized mobile charging/battery swapping. Computers & Operations Research 159, 106310, 2023] explores a variant of the Electric Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows that incorporates mobile chargers for recharging electric vehicles (EVs) at selected locations while serving customers. The authors propose a matheuristic method to address this problem and its special case, where EV batteries are swapped in constant time instead of being recharged over variable durations. While comparing their results with those in the literature, the authors overlook a critical assumption regarding the swapping policy, potentially causing confusion in interpreting the findings. This note addresses the issue, clarifies the overlooked assumption, and updates the results that do not align with the actual scenario in the literature. Furthermore, it introduces two new battery swapping policies and presents an extensive computational study to offer new insights on synchronized mobile battery swapping.
{"title":"A note on battery swapping policies in the electric vehicle routing problem with time windows and battery swapping vehicles","authors":"Bülent Çatay , İhsan Sadati","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107277","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107277","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Çatay and Sadati [An improved matheuristic for solving the electric vehicle routing problem with time windows and synchronized mobile charging/battery swapping. <em>Computers & Operations Research</em> 159, 106310, 2023] explores a variant of the Electric Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows that incorporates mobile chargers for recharging electric vehicles (EVs) at selected locations while serving customers. The authors propose a matheuristic method to address this problem and its special case, where EV batteries are swapped in constant time instead of being recharged over variable durations. While comparing their results with those in the literature, the authors overlook a critical assumption regarding the swapping policy, potentially causing confusion in interpreting the findings. This note addresses the issue, clarifies the overlooked assumption, and updates the results that do not align with the actual scenario in the literature. Furthermore, it introduces two new battery swapping policies and presents an extensive computational study to offer new insights on synchronized mobile battery swapping.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107277"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107254
Felipe O. Mota , Luís Paquete , Daniel Vanderpooten
Two-phase methods are commonly used to solve bi-objective combinatorial optimization problems. In the first phase, all extreme supported nondominated points are generated through a dichotomic search. This phase also allows the identification of search zones that may contain other nondominated points. The second phase focuses on exploring these search zones to locate the remaining points, which typically accounts for most of the computational cost. Ranking algorithms are frequently employed to explore each zone individually, but this approach leads to redundancies, causing multiple visits to the same solutions. To mitigate these redundancies, we propose several strategies that group adjacent zones, allowing a single run of the ranking algorithm for the entire group. Additionally, we explore an implicit grouping approach based on a new concept of coverage. Our experiments on the Bi-Objective Spanning Tree Problem demonstrate the beneficial impact of these grouping strategies when combined with coverage.
{"title":"Grouping strategies on two-phase methods for bi-objective combinatorial optimization","authors":"Felipe O. Mota , Luís Paquete , Daniel Vanderpooten","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107254","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107254","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Two-phase methods are commonly used to solve bi-objective combinatorial optimization problems. In the first phase, all extreme supported nondominated points are generated through a dichotomic search. This phase also allows the identification of search zones that may contain other nondominated points. The second phase focuses on exploring these search zones to locate the remaining points, which typically accounts for most of the computational cost. Ranking algorithms are frequently employed to explore each zone individually, but this approach leads to redundancies, causing multiple visits to the same solutions. To mitigate these redundancies, we propose several strategies that group adjacent zones, allowing a single run of the ranking algorithm for the entire group. Additionally, we explore an implicit grouping approach based on a new concept of coverage. Our experiments on the Bi-Objective Spanning Tree Problem demonstrate the beneficial impact of these grouping strategies when combined with coverage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107254"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-07DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2025.107255
Pengfei He , Jin-Kao Hao , Jinhui Xia
The minmax multiple traveling salesman problem involves minimizing the costs of a longest tour among a set of tours. The problem is of great practical interest because it can be used to formulate several real-life applications. To solve this computationally challenging problem, we propose a learning-driven iterated local search approach that combines an effective local search procedure to find high-quality local optimal solutions and a multi-armed bandit algorithm to select removal and insertion operators to escape local optimal traps. Extensive experiments on 77 commonly used benchmark instances show that the algorithm achieves excellent results in terms of solution quality and running time. In particular, it achieves 32 new best results (improved upper bounds) and matches the best-known results for 35 other instances. Additional experiments shed light on the understanding of the algorithm’s constituent elements. Multi-armed bandit selection can be used advantageously in other multi-operator local search algorithms.
{"title":"Learning-guided iterated local search for the minmax multiple traveling salesman problem","authors":"Pengfei He , Jin-Kao Hao , Jinhui Xia","doi":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cor.2025.107255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The minmax multiple traveling salesman problem involves minimizing the costs of a longest tour among a set of tours. The problem is of great practical interest because it can be used to formulate several real-life applications. To solve this computationally challenging problem, we propose a learning-driven iterated local search approach that combines an effective local search procedure to find high-quality local optimal solutions and a multi-armed bandit algorithm to select removal and insertion operators to escape local optimal traps. Extensive experiments on 77 commonly used benchmark instances show that the algorithm achieves excellent results in terms of solution quality and running time. In particular, it achieves 32 new best results (improved upper bounds) and matches the best-known results for 35 other instances. Additional experiments shed light on the understanding of the algorithm’s constituent elements. Multi-armed bandit selection can be used advantageously in other multi-operator local search algorithms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10542,"journal":{"name":"Computers & Operations Research","volume":"185 ","pages":"Article 107255"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}