A thesis report submitted in partial fulfillment of t he requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology,1987

A heuristic approach for solving the vehicle routing problem (VRP) is formulated and applied to a case study on the assignment and routing problem of maintenance technicians. To suit the requirements of the study, a dynamic aspect is introduced to the original algorithm. A network of the main streets in Bangkok is defined and the shortest path is computed. For estimating travel time, a travel time-distance conversion model is constructed using regression analysis. To fulfill the objectives of the study, a micro-computer based system package for solving assignment and routing problems was developed and tested. Results obtained from the new system are compared with those from the current system. It reveals that an 18.5% in crease from 13.09 for the average complete jobs by manual assignment to 15.51 by computer method in each day. And it can be ensured by 95% confidence interval that assigning the repair jobs to the technicians by the developed system is better off. The interactive approach of the proposed system is also presented. The number of technicians needed is affected by two parameters, namely, frequency of program runs and maximum delay time. These parameters can be adjusted to a certain level of service satisfaction by the management. Finally, from the computational experiences in using the developed model, only a few seconds are needed for operating the program. In other words, the response time of the computer process is at an acceptable level.