The vehicle routing problem (VRP) is a combinatorial optimization and nonlinear
programming problem seeking to service a number of customers with a fleet of vehicles.
Proposed by Dantzig and Ramser in 1959, VRP is an important problem in the fields
of transportation, distribution and logistics. [cf. wikipedia.org]
Goods, passengers, mail posts are some examples of the transported objects. The
aim of the solution of a VRP is usually to find the minimum cost or distance by
serving maximum number of customer requests (or orders) subject to some constraints.