The shortest way, efficient loads (unloads), map

[4petris]

• Cars can have the start point from everywhere in Region A, it is not set up in which point should a car start. That is up to the formula to decide what is the best point where to start.
• The last points that cars reach in the Czech Republic are areas with postal codes 3 and 4 as it is shown in a map.
• The best means to find the shortest way between all stops and do not go to the same point again with another car. To avoid redundant stops.
• There are three types of cars which are available for our company. We do not care about the position of cars within the regions. It means that we can start from everywhere because our capacity is spread within both regions everywhere.
• The points are marked as numbers (postal codes).
• The first points where trips continue in Germany are either 0 or 9.
• The last points where trips should finish are either 4 or 5.

Does anyone have an idea how this problem could be solved? Thank you for any suggestions.

I have already tried to find the approach here.

situation.png

CZ-DE.jpg

[MrShorty]

The "vehicle routing problem" (VRP) is similar to the well-known "traveling salesman problem". Both have been known and discussed for a long time. Wikipedia notes that the VRP was first discussed in a paper in 1959 (long before Excel or even "modern" computers).

The VRP is a large enough problem that it is difficult to give a complete explanation in a single internet forum post. I would suggest that you review any of the excellent tutorials available around the internet, then come back here if there is a specific step or part of the implementations that you are having trouble with.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_routing_problem
a youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enCBp2lBn64 there appear to be many others in the similar videos list.
a blog entry: https://budhiwibowo.wordpress.com/20...em-with-excel/

You could also put "vehicle routing problem excel" to find many other pages discussing the VRP.