A hybrid optimization solution to VRPTW based on simulated annealing

Recently, routing and scheduling of vehicles represented a crucial issue in lots of logistic and transport systems due to the importance of selecting efficient distribution strategies with considering economic significance. Simulated annealing algorithm (SA) is a local search technique that can potentially yield near-optimal solutions to many difficult optimization problems, such as the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). A hybrid optimization method that combines the evaluation function with the improved SA algorithm is proposed to treat the VRPTW in this paper. The simulated experiments demonstrate that it's an efficient solution to the large-scale VRPTW, and with regards to traditional SA algorithm, the computer costs are saved markedly