POPMUSIC for the world location-routing problem

POPMUSIC—partial optimization metaheuristic under special intensification conditions—is a template for tackling large problem instances. This template has been shown to be very efficient for various combinatorial problems like p-median, sum of squares clustering, vehicle routing and map labelling. In terms of algorithmic complexity, one of the most complex part of POPMUSIC template is to find an initial solution. This article presents a method for generating an appropriate initial solution to the location-routing problem by producing in O (n3/2) an approximate solution to the capacitated p-median problem. The method is tested on LRP instances with millions of entities.