Meta-RaPS: a simple and effective approach for solving the traveling salesman problem

This paper investigates the development and application of a general meta-heuristic, Meta-RaPS (metaheuristic for randomized priority search), to the traveling salesman problem (TSP). The Meta-RaPS approach is tested on several established test sets. The Meta-RaPS approach outperformed most other solution methodologies in terms of percent difference from optimal. Additionally, an industry case study that incorporates Meta-RaPS TSP in a large truck route assignment model is presented. The company estimates a more than 50% reduction in engineering time and over $2.5 million annual savings in transportation costs using the automated Meta-RaPS TSP tool compared to their current method. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.