Network Analyst - Vehicle Routing Problem

[ShaunWeston]

Problem:
I have around 100 depots and around 1200 orders. Each of these depots has a service area and can only go to orders within this service area. I want to come up with a route for each of these service areas, so the output I want is 100 different routes for each of the different service areas.

I've loaded the pre-generated service areas into routes, so I have 100 routes, 100 depots, and 1200 orders. Now I can solve the above problem by setting the orders RouteName to the service area and setting the AssignmentRule to preserve route, however I have to set the sequence, and I actually want this generated for me, so that is the problem I'm having.

I've also tried loading the service areas into route zones, so I'd have 100 routes, 100 depots and 100 route zones. I solve this and it runs for about 2 minutes and then gets stuck and just stays on 33%.

So anyway, how can I solve this problem?

Thanks

[NaAn]

Hi,

The best way to solve your problem is to use the Specialties class.

• You will need to add 100 service area specialties (one for each service area) in Specialties feature class.


• Each of the 100 routes will then have one specialty corresponding to one service area. This will be set through the SpecialtyName in route properties.


• For each of the orders, you will need to set the SpecialtyName to the corresponding service area specialty in the order properties.


• All orders assignment rule should be set as Override.

This way, orders will only be assigned to the route with the same specialty name.

Please let us know if you have more questions.

Thanks.

Anna

[ShaunWeston]

Hi Anna,

Thanks for the reply, that worked great!

I was also wondering if it is possible to set a weighting to each of the orders and then a maximum quota for each route. So, I would like each of my service areas to have a maximum quota and if it reaches that, the order will be allocated to the next closest route.

I know you can set the maximum orders for a route, but it doesn't reallocate it to another route, it just becomes unallocated.

[NaAn]

After you have finished the solve with the specialty method, if there are some unassigned orders, you can remove all specialties from routes and orders, then change the AssignmentRule on assigned orders to �?? Preserve Routes�?� and leave the AssignmentRule on unassigned orders as �??Override.�?� Re-solving the problem should give you a solution to insert the unassigned orders into the existing routes.

Thanks.

Anna