A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem
The workforce scheduling and routing problem (WSRP) is a combinatorial optimisation problem where a set of workers must perform visits to geographically scattered locations. We present a Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS) metaheuristic algorithm to tackle this problem, incorporating two novel heuri...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Book Section |
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Springer
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31300/ |
| _version_ | 1848794171581661184 |
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| author | Pinheiro, Rodrigo Lankaites Landa-Silva, Dario Atkin, Jason |
| author2 | Pillay, Nelishia |
| author_facet | Pillay, Nelishia Pinheiro, Rodrigo Lankaites Landa-Silva, Dario Atkin, Jason |
| author_sort | Pinheiro, Rodrigo Lankaites |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The workforce scheduling and routing problem (WSRP) is a combinatorial optimisation problem where a set of workers must perform visits to geographically scattered locations. We present a Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS) metaheuristic algorithm to tackle this problem, incorporating two novel heuristics tailored to the problem-domain. The first heuristic restricts the search space using a priority list of candidate workers and the second heuristic seeks to reduce the violation of specific soft constraints. We also present two greedy constructive heuristics to give the VNS a good starting point. We show that the use of domain-knowledge in the design of the algorithm can provide substantial improvements in the quality of solutions. The proposed VNS provides the first benchmark results for the set of real-world WSRP scenarios considered. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:11:57Z |
| format | Book Section |
| id | nottingham-31300 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:11:57Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Springer |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-313002020-05-04T17:22:29Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31300/ A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem Pinheiro, Rodrigo Lankaites Landa-Silva, Dario Atkin, Jason The workforce scheduling and routing problem (WSRP) is a combinatorial optimisation problem where a set of workers must perform visits to geographically scattered locations. We present a Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS) metaheuristic algorithm to tackle this problem, incorporating two novel heuristics tailored to the problem-domain. The first heuristic restricts the search space using a priority list of candidate workers and the second heuristic seeks to reduce the violation of specific soft constraints. We also present two greedy constructive heuristics to give the VNS a good starting point. We show that the use of domain-knowledge in the design of the algorithm can provide substantial improvements in the quality of solutions. The proposed VNS provides the first benchmark results for the set of real-world WSRP scenarios considered. Springer Pillay, Nelishia Engelbrecht, Andries P. Abraham, Ajith du Plessis, Mathys C. Snášel, Václav Muda, Azah Kamilah 2015-11-18 Book Section PeerReviewed Pinheiro, Rodrigo Lankaites, Landa-Silva, Dario and Atkin, Jason (2015) A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem. In: Advances in nature and biologically inspired computing: proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing, NaBIC2015, in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, held December 01-03, 2015. Advances in intelligent systems and computing (419). Springer, Cham, pp. 247-259. ISBN 9783319273990 personnel scheduling variable neighbourhood search heuristics metaheuristics vehicle routing http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-27400-3_22 doi:10.1007/978-3-319-27400-3_22 doi:10.1007/978-3-319-27400-3_22 |
| spellingShingle | personnel scheduling variable neighbourhood search heuristics metaheuristics vehicle routing Pinheiro, Rodrigo Lankaites Landa-Silva, Dario Atkin, Jason A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem |
| title | A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem |
| title_full | A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem |
| title_fullStr | A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem |
| title_full_unstemmed | A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem |
| title_short | A variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem |
| title_sort | variable neighbourhood search for the workforce scheduling and routing problem |
| topic | personnel scheduling variable neighbourhood search heuristics metaheuristics vehicle routing |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31300/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31300/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31300/ |