Abstract:

In recent years there has been a significant increase in the world’s elderly population. This means that the number of people who cannot meet their needs is increasing. In this context, municipalities and various companies provide home-care services so that elderly living alone can survive in a prosperous life. Timely provision of this important service is critical and at this point, the importance of vehicle routing problem is increasing even more. Aim of this study: The purpose of this study is to carry out vehicle routing in order to minimize the total distance traveled by a home care service company affiliated with a public institution in Ankara. Method: For solving the vehicle routing problems, integer programming models are frequently used because the variables involved are integers. From this point of view in this study, an integrated programming model was proposed that minimizes the distance travelled by vehicles carrying the medical staff providing home care services for the elderly living alone. Results: In the study, 5 vehicles (medical staff) belonging to the company and 25 points of the visit were taken into consideration. With the model solution, routes are obtained that minimize the distances the vehicles will follow. By this means, the elderly will be able to take home health care services as soon as possible and also it can be provided a cost advantage for the company.

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