¹Guizhou University, Guizhou, China
²Guizhou College of Finance and Economics, Guizhou, China

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Abstract—Logistics distribution problem is an important part of the modern logistics system. Suppliers need to plan a route scheme for each customer in goods distribution, which is a multi-point to multi-point problem. It is NP-hard. Through analysis of characteristics of the existing logistics system, mathematical models are constructed, by introducing the order request and the return request with multiple suppliers. With these models, we present multivendor logistics distribution optimized algorithm and heuristic logistics distribution algorithm based on parallel multi-colonies. The first algorithm takes into account customer requests, make full use of vehicle loading and reasonably choose delivery route, so that transportation costs are lower, but the time cost is higher. The second algorithm add heuristic factor and introduce metrizable ratio, which get a faster convergence rate and higher-quality global optima. Simulation results show that both of the proposed algorithms can be adapted to this problem, but the heuristic logistics distribution algorithm based on parallel multi-colonies is more effective, which can keep balance between the time overhead and the best route.

Index Terms—logistics distribution problem, delivery route, ant colony algorithm, metrizable ratio, heuristic information

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Cite: Ruixue Tang, Yongbin Qin, Li Zhang, "Research on Heuristics Logistics Distribution Algorithm Based on Parallel Multi-ant Colonies," Journal of Software vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 612-619, 2011.