Heuristic column generation for designing an express circular packaging distribution network

RuiYang Li (), Ming He (), HongYue He () and QiaoYu Deng ()
Additional contact information
RuiYang Li: Army Engineering University of PLA
Ming He: Army Engineering University of PLA
HongYue He: Army Engineering University of PLA
QiaoYu Deng: Army Engineering University of PLA

Operational Research, 2022, vol. 22, issue 2, No 10, 1103-1126

Abstract: Abstract Express packaging is consuming a huge amount of materials every year, which pollutes the environment and wastes resources as well. One of solutions is to build an express distribution network for circular packaging to recycle packaging materials. We present a forward and backward network that enables collection depots transport express packages to distribution centers where the wasted packaging materials are collected by recycle bins and sent back to the collection depots. Therefore, the recyclable packaging materials are detected in the collection depots, then the reusable materials are sent to the distribution centers and the others are transported back to material factories for recycling production. A mathematical model as well as a heuristic algorithm is built, based on Lagrangian relaxation and column generation, to optimize the circular packaging network. A case study has been led to test the proposed approach. The experiment results show that our solution can reduce total cost remarkably.

Keywords: Backward network; Express circulating packaging; Location problem; Lagrangian relaxation; Column generation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12351-020-00570-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:operea:v:22:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s12351-020-00570-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... search/journal/12351

DOI: 10.1007/s12351-020-00570-w

Access Statistics for this article

Operational Research is currently edited by Nikolaos F. Matsatsinis, John Psarras and Constantin Zopounidis

More articles in Operational Research from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().