An improved cut-and-solve algorithm for the single-source capacitated facility location problem

In this paper we present an improved cut–and–solve algorithm for the single– source capacitated facility location problem. The algorithm consists of three phases. The first phase strengthens the integer program by a cutting plane algorithm to obtain a tight lower bound. The second phase uses a two level local branching heuristic to find an upper bound and, if optimality has not yet been established, the third phase uses the cut-andsolve framework to close the optimality gap. Extensive computational results are reported, showing that the proposed algorithm runs 10 to 80 times faster on average compared to state–of–the–art problem specific algorithms.