A Heuristic for Obtaining and Initial Solution for the Transportation Problem

A heuristic for obtaining an initial solution for the transportation problem is presented. Comparison of findings obtained by the new heuristic and Vogel's approximation method (VAM) are tabulated for 480 examples. Superior performance of the new heuristic over VAM is discussed in terms of total costs obtained, number of iterations required to reach the final solution, and CPU time required to solve the problems. Experimental design aspects are also presented