On a Principle of Chain-exchange for Vehicle-routeing Problems (1-VRP)

This paper deals with a simple but efficient heuristic solution method for the basic one-depot vehicle-routeing problem. It is called the chain-exchange principle, which represents a generalization of the improvement procedures removing just one or two customers. The chain-exchange process is shown for problems with up to 100 customers, which can be solved on microcomputers with justifiable use of computing time.