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This paper focuses on the formulation and solution of the problem of just in time supply of required materials or parts from suppliers for a manufacturing system. The unique characteristic of this problem is that the quantity of required material to be delivered to a central depot, is a function of the route taken by a vehicle assigned to serve some selected suppliers. Minimizing number of required


















vehicles and minimizing average inventories at the central depot are the objectives of this problem. The problem is formulated as a mathematical programming model and then an ant algorithm with recursive improvement is suggested. The performance of the ant algorithm is evaluated in comparison with the mathematical model. The ant algorithm with recursive improvement is shown to provide good results.