[1Win4] Poster session 1

[1Win4-19] Optimization of facility visit planning for Medical Representative by solving the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) using Quantum Annealing

〇Ryotaro Tajima¹, Masayuki Kobayashi¹, Ryo Kiguchi¹, Yoshitake Kitanishi¹ (1.Shionogi & Co., Ltd.)

Keywords:Quantum Computer, Quantum Annealing, Optimization

In the pharmaceutical industry, since prescription drugs that are closely related to life and health are managed, it is essential to provide information that leads to the appropriate use of products. Medical representatives (MRs) are responsible for providing information on prescription drugs. MRs' information provision activities are mainly conducted by visiting medical facilities directly. Many MRs must visit multiple medical facilities, so it is important to develop efficient facility visit plans. However, depending on the region, there are various constraints such as long-distance travel between facilities and visit time restrictions. Since it is necessary to develop a facility visit plan under such multiple constraints, creating an optimal visit plan requires large-scale calculations. Therefore, in this study, we formulated the time window constrained transportation routing problem (VRPTW) using QUBO, taking into account the number of MRs in charge, the distance between each facility, and the appropriate visit time at each facility, and attempted to quickly and efficiently optimize MR visit plans for any region by solving it using quantum annealing.