Variable Neighborhood Search for the Bin Packing Problem with Compatible Categories

• Main Authors: Santos, Luiz F. O. Moura, Yoshizaki, Hugo T. Y, Cunha, Claudio B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 08-05-2019
• Subjects: Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence; Computer Science - Data Structures and Algorithms; Mathematics - Optimization and Control
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1905.03427

Bin Packing with Conflicts (BPC) are problems in which items with
compatibility constraints must be packed in the least number of bins, not
exceeding the capacity of the bins and ensuring that non-conflicting items are
packed in each bin. In this work, we introduce the Bin Packing Problem with
Compatible Categories (BPCC), a variant of the BPC in which items belong to
conflicting or compatible categories, in opposition to the item-by-item
incompatibility found in previous literature. It is a common problem in the
context of last mile distribution to nanostores located in densely populated
areas. To efficiently solve real-life sized instances of the problem, we
propose a Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) metaheuristic algorithm.
Computational experiments suggest that the algorithm yields good solutions in
very short times while compared to linear integer programming running on a
high-performance computing environment.