Name: Poon Shuk Yin

Student ID: 22030394D

Class: LEC001
Date: 19/10/2023

ISE 450 Simulation of Logistics Systems

Logistics Planning

Question:
You are the manager of logistics service of the Facilities Management Office in PolyU. You are assigned to
design a new effective mail delivery system in PolyU. The map of PolyU and the locations of all cores are
displayed below.

In PolyU, the buildings are named by alphabets such as Core A, B, etc. The postman needs to visit all cores
everyday. Your task is to find the shortest way to visit all cores and return to your starting core. Core J is your
starting core.

a. What is the term or name commonly used to describe this delivery problem?
Ans: Traveling Salesman Problem

b. DEMONSTRATE your solution using two heuristics: Nearest Neighbour and Insertion. The precise
distance of traveling between them is NOT important and you can just simply guess the distance from the
map. It is unnecessary to calculate the total distance or time. You can simply demonstrate the steps for each
heuristic using diagram.
Ans:
i) Nearest Neighbour
 STEP Route
1 (Starting point) Core J  Core H
2 Core H  Core G
3 Core G  Core A
4 Core A  Core B
5 Core B  Core C
6 Core C  Core D
7 Core D  Core E
8 Core E  Core F
9 Core F  Core L
10 Core L  Core P
11 Core P  Core R
12 Core R  Core Q
13 Core Q  Core S
14 Core S  Core W
15 Core W  Core V
16 Core V  Core J (Back to starting point)

ii) Insertion
Step 1: Joint all the nodes, including the Core A, B, C, D, E, H, J, L, M, N, P, Q, V, W (exclude the node of
F, R, S) to form a convex hull.
Step 2: A new node is usually inserted into the tour at the point that causes the minimum increase in the
length of the tour until all nodes are connected.

The increase node connection: Core J to Core F (new starting connection), Core F to Core G, Core H to
Core J (new ending connection)
Step 3: The original connection in between the (Core H to Core G), (Core Q to Core W) will be delete. A new
connection generate in (Core J to Core F to Core G), (Core H to Core J), (Core Q to Core R to Core S to
Core W). The below picture show the new connection in the cores.

c. Is it possible to find out the optimal solution using the two heuristics described in part b? If not, what
method can give the optimal solution?
Ans: Yes, the above methods are possible to find out the optimal solution with they will provide the
“nearly” optimal solution. For the further analysis, it is suggested that to use the exact algorithm which can
surely provide the “most” optimal solution.

d. If the starting core is not Core J, (says Core S now), will the optimal solution of mail delivery change?
Briefly explain your answer.
Ans:
With the changed starting core, the shortest route will not change. The reason is that as the connection among
the cores requires the back to start point, it means that this route is in a cycle form with the same starting and
ending core. Therefore, the change of core can still maintain the same distance.