A time expanded version of the (Hitchcock-) transportation problem

[摘要] This paper considers a time expanded version of the classical (Hitchcock-) transportation problem. Certain quantities of goods are produced in the production facilities in each period of a planning horizon and also the demand values of the outlets are different for each time period. Moreover, the transportation costs from i to j also vary over time. The different planning periods are connected by the fact that goods may be stored at a facility or at an outlet to exploit cheaper transportation costs as long as the demand is met in every time period. We describe the problem by two models, showing that it can be solved in polynomial time by standard software packages. Then we describe some generalizations of the problem by adapting the two models, pointing out that each model seems to provide different benefits.

[发布日期] 2011-10-01

[关键词] Transportation problems;Min-cost flow problem;Hitchcock problem