The Approach To Optimizing Distribution Plans Of Oil Products For Multiple Distribution Schemes With Lateral Transshipment

Oil products are strategic resources related to the national welfare and the people’s livelihood,and their timely,stable and adequate supply is the key to ensure the smooth operation of social production and people’s lives.As the logistics cost of oil products always remains high,how to reduce the distributin cost is the key problem to be solved urgently while realizing the distribution on demand.The products of the research can provide decision support for the operations management of dispatching centers,realize the goals of decreasing cost and increasing efficiency.Therefore,the research of optimizing distribution plans of oil products shows important theoretical and practical significance.Aiming at three distribution schemes(separate distribution,co-distribution,and mixed distribution)of oil products under the circumstance of lateral transshipment,this paper carries out the research of the methods of distribution plans of oil products.The characteristics and difficulties of this problem are as follows: firstly,this problem belongs to the multi-compartment vehicle routing problem,and it must consider multiple products,multiple compartments and vehicle routing at the same time;secondly,in the background of lateral transshipment,the distribution plans are diversified,therefore it increases the difficulty of modelling for different distribution plans;thirdly,how to compare the three distribution schemes,and how to construct the algorithm to express and solve the distribution schemes are also challenging problems.In terms of the problem,the main work of this paper is as follows:(1)Analyzing the problem of optimizing distribution plans for oil products with lateral transshipment.Firstly,this research provides the problem statement.Then,the complexity of modelling and solving this problem is expounded.Finally,the solution of the problem is put forward briefly.(2)Constructing the model for distribution plans of oil products with lateral transshipment.With the objective of minimizing the sum of the fixed vehicle dispatching cost and fuel cost,the model is constructed to express different distribution schemes.(3)Proposing the algorithm for distribution plans of oil products with lateral transshipment.The Clarke and Wright savings algorithm incorporating the exchange and insertion operators is developed for solving separate distribution and mixed distribution.(4)Conducting computational experiments.The first section is comparing separate distribution and co-distribution.The models are solved by the Cplex solver,and the conclusion that separate distribution is superior to co-distribution is presented.The second section is comparing separate distribution and mixed distribution.The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified,and the findings and managerial insights are presented.The research provides a scientific approach to choosing a better distribution scheme and optimizing distribution plans under the circumstance of lateral transshipment.The method of this research can be used to solve other similar logistics problems,such as lateral transshipment and the comparison of multiple distribution schemes.The research results can provide a decision support for operations management and reduce the distribution cost for distribution companies of oil products.