Analysing salesmen itinerary with agglomerative hierarchical clustering and vehicle routing algorithm - a case study of a confectionery supplier in Indonesia

Elia Oey, Alexander B. Marpaung and M. Idham Sofyan

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2019, vol. 31, issue 3, 287-303

Abstract: The study analysed salesmen itinerary of a confectionery supplier in Indonesia. Channel management and robust product distribution are important elements for confectionery business, since growth heavily depends on healthy product distribution. To support product distribution, optimising salesmen itinerary plays an important role in the firm's sales operation. The study was limited to optimising salesmen schedule for its wholesalers' outlet type, since it contributed to 78% of its revenue. The analyses were carried out using 'cluster first-route second' approach. For clustering the customer nodes, it recommended agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) method. For routing within each customer's cluster, it tested two algorithms, i.e., Clarke-Wright and weighted-serving time-visual approach. The result showed that AHC-weighted-serving-time-visual algorithm was as good as AHC-Clarke-Wright with 2.1% cheaper variable cost. The proposed algorithm was adapted from practical insight and easier to be understood.

Keywords: cluster first-route second; vehicle routing problem; VRP; agglomerative hierarchical clustering; AHC; Clarke-Wright; weighted-serving time-visual approach; Indonesia. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=98541 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijisen:v:31:y:2019:i:3:p:287-303

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().