Efficient rice distribution is crucial to ensure food supply reaches communities on time and at minimal cost. A recent study from researchers at Universitas Padjadjaran explores how mathematical approaches can optimize delivery routes, focusing on rice distribution in six sub-districts of Pekanbaru, Riau.
The research applies the Hungarian Method and the Branch and Bound Method to solve what’s known as the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) — a mathematical challenge to find the shortest possible route that visits each location once before returning to the starting point.
In this study, transportation costs and travel times are not fixed, as they are influenced by traffic, road conditions, weather, and other uncertainties. To handle this, the researchers used a fuzzification method, converting variable travel times into trapezoidal fuzzy numbers.
The results showed that both methods successfully determined an optimal route for rice distribution: starting from the warehouse, passing through all six sub-districts, and returning to the warehouse. This optimized route reduces both costs and travel time, making rice delivery more reliable and efficient.
Interestingly, the study found that while both methods produced the same optimal route, the Hungarian method was more efficient for problems involving fewer than ten locations, as it required less computation time compared to the Branch and Bound method.
This innovation supports the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2: Zero Hunger, by ensuring food supply chains are more effective and sustainable, reducing waste in time and resources while ensuring communities have timely access to staple food like rice.
#UnpadResearch #RiceDistribution #ZeroHunger
Link to the paper: https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85200405315
24/Mat/2025
