Multicommodity Distribution System Design by Benders Decomposition

A. M. Geoffrion and G. W. Graves
Additional contact information
A. M. Geoffrion: University of California, Los Angeles
G. W. Graves: University of California, Los Angeles

Management Science, 1974, vol. 20, issue 5, 822-844

Abstract: A commonly occurring problem in distribution system design is the optimal location of intermediate distribution facilities between plants and customers. A multi-commodity capacitated single-period version of this problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear program. A solution technique based on Benders Decomposition is developed, implemented, and successfully applied to a real problem for a major food firm with 17 commodity classes, 14 plants, 45 possible distribution center sites, and 121 customer zones. An essentially optimal solution was found and proven with a surprisingly small number of Benders cuts. Some discussion is given concerning why this problem class appears to be so amenable to solution by Benders' method, and also concerning what we feel to be the proper professional use of the present computational technique.

Date: 1974
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (185)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.20.5.822 (application/pdf)

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:inm:ormnsc:v:20:y:1974:i:5:p:822-844

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().