Supporting supply process in charitable organizations by genetic algorithm

• The problem arising e.g. in charitable organizations during supply process is analysed.
• The formal mathematical model and the lower bound for the criterion value is presented.
• The genetic algorithm and the specialized list heuristic approach are proposed.
• Extensive computational experiments for real world like data are reported.
• The algorithms were integrated with web interface into a decision supporting system.

The paper concerns the optimization problem arising in charitable organizations during supply process. Such institutions are especially interested in minimizing the cost of purchase which consists of the prices at which particular products are bought as well as of the cost of their transportation. We present the formal mathematical model of the problem and the lower bound for the criterion value. We propose a genetic algorithm and the specialized list heuristic approach solving the case, which we prove is strongly NP-hard. The efficiency of implemented methods was checked in extensive computational experiments. The proposed algorithms have been integrated with the software system designed with a view of supporting charitable organizations.