Solving Multi Objective Transportation Problems using Harmonic Mean and Graph Theory

Abstract

E.M.D.B. Ekanayake, E.M.U.S.B. Ekanayake

Operations research is frequently applied to economics activities, where more attention has also been directed to trans- portation problems (TP). Another application of this type of transportation problem can be shown as multi objective trans- portation problems (MOTPs). Usually, in a transportation problem, only one objective of transporting goods from source to destination is considered. However, in a MOTP, different objectives such as time, cost, and risk must be considered. The basic requirement of a multi objective transportation problem in such way as to obtain a minimum value for the objectives mentioned above. Therefore, researchers are developing various algorithms to find an efficient solution to these specific problems. Also, in this paper, we focus on presenting a new approach for an efficient solution to the MOTP. It is recommend- ed to build the method based on the harmonic mean algorithm and spanning tree, compare its solutions with the methods of other concurrent researchers and check the effectiveness of this article. We can say that this new approach is an efficient and easy-to-understand method that provides relatively accurate solutions.

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