System Engineering and Productivity

System Engineering and Productivity

Vehicle Routing Problem with Mobile Customers: Modeling Considering Uncertainty in Customer Location within a Geographical Area

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Abolfazl Shafaei 1
Hossein Shams Shemirani 2
Mohammad Reza Akbari Jokar 3
Majid Rafiee 4
1 Corresponding author: Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering Group, Golpayegan College of Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Golpayegan, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering Group, Golpayegan College of Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Golpayegan, Iran
3 Professor, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
4 Associate Professor, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/sep.2026.2088282.1486
Abstract
The customer with a Mobile and Stochastic location is a new approach on which Vehicle Routing Problems can be modeled. This is due to the fact that when a customer places an order and the service provider starts planning to deliver the order, some customers do not actually stay at That place, and many customers tend to move in different places. In classical VRP, the place of delivery is completely known, and the delivery of the order is planned for that specific location. If the customer is allowed to move around in a area after placing his order, the concept of location as it has been dealt with in classical VRP is practically challenged. Although this approach can involve increased customer satisfaction, it will make planning more complicated for the service provider, because it will face ambiguity and uncertainty in the customer location. This article attempts to explain this view of customer location and investigate VRP under conditions of customer location uncertainty.

Highlights

  • In this model, customers are defined by geographical regions rather than static points. 
  • Customers are allowed to traverse to any location within their designated service area. 
  • The service location can be any coordinate within the customer’s corresponding region.
  • The customer’s position at the time of delivery is a stochastic variable.

Keywords
Mobile customer
Vehicle Routing Problems
Uncertainty
Nonlinear Models
Stochastic Models
Subjects

Copyright © Abolfazl Shafaei, Hossein Shams Shemirani, Mohammad Reza Akbari Jokar, Majid Rafiee

  

License

This article is released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone is free to copy, share, translate, and adapt this article for any purpose, whether commercial or non-commercial, as long as proper citation is given to the authors and original publication.

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System Engineering and Productivity

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 22 June 2026

  • Receive Date 30 April 2026
  • Revise Date 11 June 2026
  • Accept Date 22 June 2026
  • First Publish Date 22 June 2026
  • Publish Date 22 June 2026