RZRM: Research
Intelligent Optimization of Commercial Territory Design
Funding: MECD Award (2005-2006)
SEP-CONACYT, Basic Research Project Program (Grant. No. 48499-Y, 2007-2010)
UANL, Scientific and Technological Research Support Program (Grant. No. CA1478-07, 2007-2008)
UANL, Scientific and Technological Research Support Program (Grant. No. CE012-09, 2009-2010)
Dates: 2005 - 2010
People: Principal Investigator:
Dr. Roger Z. Ríos (PISIS, UANL)

Collaborators:
Dra. Ada M. Álvarez (PISIS, UANL)
Dr. Arturo Berrones (PISIS, UANL)
Dra. Elena Fernández (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain)
Dra. Elisa Schaeffer (PISIS, UANL)
Dr. Fabián López (Grupo ARCA, Monterrey)
Dr. José L. González (Tec de Monterrey)
Dr. Jörg Kalcsics (Universität des Saarlandes, Germany)
Dr. Juan A. Díaz (UDLA, Mexico)
Dr. Juan A. Mesa (Universidad de Sevilla, Spain)
Dr. Julián Molina (Universidad de Málaga, Spain)
Dr. Karim de Alba (UAAAN, Saltillo)
Dr. Mauricio Cabrera-Ríos (U of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico)
Dr. Rafael Caballero (Universidad de Málaga, Spain)
Dr. Rubén Ruiz (Universidad Poxlitécnica de Valencia, Spain)
Dr. Stefan Nickel (Universität des Saarlandes, Germany)

Postdoctoral Research Associate:
Dr. Jaime Cano (PISIS, UANL)

Graduate Research Assistants:
Ángel Segura (PISIS, UANL)
Angélica Salazar (PISIS, UANL)
Diana I. Huerta (PISIS, UANL)
Jabneel R. Maldonado (PISIS, UANL)
Juan C. Salazar (PISIS, UANL)
Mónica G. Elizondo (PISIS, UANL)
Saúl I. Caballero (PISIS, UANL)

Undergraduate Research Assistants:
Dagoberto R. Quevedo (Tec de Tepic)
Nancy Solis (FCFM, UANL)
Roxana Flores (UVM-Toluca)

Publications:
Work in Progress
[?] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. Computational experience with a reactive GRASP for a large scale commercial territory design problem from the beverage distribution industry. February 2008 (submitted).
Book Chapters
Journal Papers
[1] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and E. Fernández. A reactive GRASP for a sales territory design problem with multiple balancing requirements. Computers & Operations Research, 36(3):755-776, 2009.
[2] E. Fernández, J. Kalcsics, S. Nickel, and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. A novel maximum dispersion territory design model arising in the implementation of the WEEE-directive. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 61(3):503-514, 2010.
[3] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and J. L. González-Velarde. A bi-objective programming model for designing compact and balanced territories in commercial districting. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 19(5):885-895, 2011.
[4] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and M. Cabrera-Ríos. New models for commercial territory design. Networks and Spatial Economics, 11(3):487-507, 2011.
[5] Jaime Cano-Belmán, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and M. A. Salazar-Aguilar. Commercial territory design for a distribution firm with new constructive and destructive heuristics. International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems, 5(1):126-147, 2012.
[6] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, J. L. González-Velarde, and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. A divide-and-conquer approach to commercial territory design. Computación y Sistemas, 16(3):309-320, 2012.
[7] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, J. L. González-Velarde, and J. Molina. Multiobjective scatter search for a commercial territory design problem. Annals of Operations Research, 199(1):343-360, 2012.
[8] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and J. F. López-Pérez. Commercial territory design planning with realignment and disjoint assignment requirements. Omega, 41(3):525-535, 2013.
[9] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and J. L. González-Velarde GRASP strategies for a bi-objective commercial territory design problem. Journal of Heuristics, 19(2):179-200, 2013.
Magazine Articles
[10] R. Flores Rivas and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. Estudio computacional sobre un problema de división de territorios comerciales. Ingenierías, 12(42):41-47, 2009.
[11] N. Solis García, R. Z. Ríos Mercado, and A. M. Álvarez Socarrás. Modelando sistemas territoriales con programación entera Ingenierías, 12(44):7-15, 2009.
[12] D. R. Quevedo Orozco and R. Z. Ríos Mercado. Uso de búsqueda tabú en la solución del problema de asignación cuadrática. Ingenierías, 13(48):40-48, 2010.
Conference Proceedings Papers
[13] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and E. Fernández. A GRASP for a sales territory design problem with multiple balancing planning criteria. In Proceedings of the XIII Latin Ibero American Conference on Operations, CD-ROM ISBN: 9974-7699-9-X. Montevideo, Uruguay, November 2006.
[14] S. I. Caballero Hernández, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and F. López. Solución heurística a un problema de diseño de territorios comerciales con restricciones de asignación conjunta mediante GRASP. In E. Alba, F. Chicano, F. Herrera, F. Luna, G. Luque, and A. J. Nebro (editors), Proceedings of the I Spanish Meeting on Evolutionary Algorithms and Metaheuristics (JAEM'07), pp. 145-153. Zaragoza, Spain, September 2007.
[15] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. Computational experience with a reactive GRASP for a large scale commercial territory design problem. In M. J. Geiger and W. Habenicht (editors), Proceedings of EU/ME 2007 "Metaheuristics in the Service Industry", pp. 72-79. ISBN: 978-3-00-022976-3. Stuttgart, Germany, October 2007.
[16] S. I. Caballero-Hernández, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, F. López, and S. E. Schaeffer. Empirical evaluation of a metaheuristic for commercial territory design with joint assignment constraints. In J.E. Fernandez, S. Noriega, A. Mital, S.E. Butt, and T.K. Fredericks (editors), Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering Theory, Applications, and Practice (IJIE'07), pp. 422-427. ISBN: 978-0-9654506-3-8. Cancun, Mexico, November 2007.
[17] J. A. Segura-Ramiro, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, A. M. Álvarez-Socarrás, and K. de Alba Romenus. A location-allocation heuristic for a territory design problem in a beverage distribution firm. In J.E. Fernandez, S. Noriega, A. Mital, S.E. Butt, and T.K. Fredericks (editors), Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering Theory, Applications, and Practice (IJIE'07), pp. 428-434. ISBN: 978-0-9654506-3-8. Cancun, Mexico, November 2007.
[18] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, E. Fernández, J. Kalcsics, and S. Nickel. Computational experience with GRASP for a maximum dispersion territory design problem. In Proceedings of EU/MEeting 2009, pp. 89-94, Porto, Portugal, April 2009.
[19] D. L. Huerta Muñoz, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, E. Schaeffer, and R. Ruiz. Diseño de planes eficientes para la segmentación de clientes con múltiples atributos. In J. C. Leyva López (editor), Proceedings of the XIV Latin-American Summer School on Operations Research (ELAVIO'09). Paper 5-3, pp. 1-5. ISBN: 978-607-7834-02-01. El Fuerte, Mexico, August 2009.
[20] J. R. Maldonado Flores and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. Búsqueda tabú para un problema de diseño territorial de máxima dispersión. In J. C. Leyva López (editor), Proceedings of the XIV Latin-American Summer School on Operations Research (ELAVIO'09). Paper 21-3, pp. 1-4. ISBN: 978-607-7834-02-01. El Fuerte, Mexico, August 2009.
[21] J. C. Salazar Acosta and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. Diseño de territorios comerciales con costos de ruteo. In J. C. Leyva López (editor), Proceedings of the XIV Latin-American Summer School on Operations Research (ELAVIO'09). Paper 16-3, pp. 1-5. ISBN: 978-607-7834-02-01. El Fuerte, Mexico, August 2009.
[22] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and J. L. González-Velarde. Procedimiento GRASP multiobjetivo para el diseño de territorios comerciales. In J. C. Leyva López (editor), Proceedings of the XIV Latin-American Summer School on Operations Research (ELAVIO'09). Paper 10-2, pp. 1-6. ISBN: 978-607-7834-02-01. El Fuerte, Mexico, August 2009.
[23] D. L. Huerta-Muñoz, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and R. Ruiz. A heuristic approach to a market segmentation problem with multiple attributes. In J. M. Sautto Vallejo, R. Peña Galeana, P. Baldivia Noyola, and N. I. Peña Galeana (editors), Proceedings of the 3rd Latin-Iberian-American Workshop on Operations Research (TLAIO3). Paper 073107, pp. 1-56. ISBN: 978-607-7760-20-7. Acapulco, Mexico, October 2009.
[24] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, J. L. González-Velarde, and J. Molina. Diseño de territorios comerciales con múltiples objetivos In Proceedings of the 4th Meeting of the Ibero-american Network on Multicriteria Decision and Evaluation (RED-M'09), pp. 1-4. ISBN: 978-970-764-849-4. Zapopan, Mexico, November 2009.
[25] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and J. L. González-Velarde. GRASP strategies for a bi-objective commercial territory design problem. In B. Melián Batista, J. A. Moreno Pérez, and E. Carrizosa Priego (editors), Proceedings of the Workshop on Intelligent Metaheuristics for Logistic Planning (MHIPL), pp. 63-74. Sevilla, Spain, November 2009.
[26] J. R. Maldonado Flores and R. Z. Ríos Mercado. Búsqueda tabú para un problema de diseño territorial con máxima dispersión. In V. Campos, A. Duarte, M. Gallego, F. Gortázar, and R. Martí (editors), Proceedings of the VII Spanish Conference on Metaheuristics, Evolutionary and Bioinspired Algorithms, pp. 751-757. ISBN: 978-84-92812-58-5. Valencia, Spain, September 2010 (In Spanish).
[27] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and J. C. Salazar-Acosta. A GRASP with strategic oscillation for a commercial territory design problem with a routing budget constraint. In I. Batyrshin and G. Sidorov (editors), MICAI 2011, Part II, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 7095, pp. 307--318. Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, 2011.
Thesis
[28] S. I. Caballero Hernández. Un Procedimiento de Búsqueda Voraz Aleatorizado y Adaptativo para el Diseño Eficiente de Territorios de Atención Comercial con Requerimientos de Asignacióon Conjunta. Master thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, May 2008.
[29] N. Solis García. Evaluación de la Calidad de Métodos de Optimización Exacta para Modelos de Diseño Territorial. Lic. (BS) thesis, School of Physics and Mathematics, UANL, June 2008.
[30] J. A. Segura Ramiro. Un Algoritmo de Localización-Asignación para el Diseño Eficiente de Planes Territoriales de Uso Comercial. Master thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, June 2008.
[31] D. L. Huerta Muñoz. Diseño de Planes Eficientes para la Segmentación de Clientes con Múltiples Atributos. Master thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, July 2009.
[32] J. C. Salazar Acosta. Diseño de Territorios Comerciales con Costos de Ruteo. Master thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, July 2009.
[33] M. A. Salazar Aguilar. Models, Algorithms, and Heuristics for Multiobjective Commercial Territory Design. Doctoral dissertation, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, May 2010.
[34] M. G. Elizondo Amaya. Un Esquema de Acotamiento Dual para un Problema de Diseño Territorial. Master thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, July 2010.
[35] J. R. Maldonado Flores. Un Método de Búsqueda Tabú con Oscilación Estratégica para la Optimización de Diseño de Zonas de Recolección de Aparatos Electrodomésticos. Master thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, July 2010.
Technical Reports
[36] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and E. Fernández. A reactive GRASP for a sales territory design problem with multiple balancing requirements. Technical Report PISIS-2006-12, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, September 2006.
[37] E. Fernández, J. Kalcsics, S. Nickel, and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. A novel territory design model arising in the implementation of the WEEE-directive. Technical Report PISIS-2008-03, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, October 2008.
[38] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and M. Cabrera-Ríos. New models for commercial territory design. Technical Report PISIS-2009-07, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, December 2009.
[39] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and J. L. González-Velarde. Constructing efficient commercial territory design plans for a beverage distribution firm with a bi-objective programming model. Technical Report PISIS-2009-08, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, December 2009.
[40] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and J. L. González-Velarde. GRASP strategies for a bi-objective commercial territory design problem. Technical Report PISIS-2010-01, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, January 2010.
[41] Jaime Cano-Belmán, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, and M. A. Salazar-Aguilar. Commercial territory design for a distribution firm with new constructive and destructive heuristics. Technical Report PISIS-2010-02, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, February 2010.
[42] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, J. L. González-Velarde, and J. Molina Multiobjective scatter search for a commercial territory design problem. Technical Report PISIS-2010-04, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, September 2010.
[43] M. A. Salazar-Aguilar, J. L. González-Velarde, and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado. A divide-and-conquer approach to commercial territory design. Technical Report PISIS-2010-05, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, December 2010.
[44] R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and J. F. López-Pérez. Commercial territory design planning with realignment and disjoint assignment requirements. Technical Report PISIS-2011-06, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, May 2011.