Preliminaries -- The Knapsack Problem and Straightforward Optimization Methods -- Search Heuristics -- Metaheuristics -- Metaheuristics in General -- Metaheuristics Based on Solution Construction -- Metaheuristics Based on Solution Modification -- Metaheuristics Based on Solution Recombination -- Summarizing Remarks on Metaheuristics -- Applications -- Metaheuristics in Machine Scheduling -- Metaheuristics in Vehicle Routing -- Summary.

The book gives an introduction to metaheuristics for students and practitioners. It requires no prior knowledge of the field, as the basic concepts are developed step by step from the bottom up using the knapsack problem and therefore allowing the user to concentrate on the main ideas of metaheuristics. The concepts are then expanded to concrete algorithms, which are described in detail. Then a systematization of the algorithms is established and compared with existing classification schemes from literature. The last part of the book deals with the application of popular metaheuristics to two optimization problems from the field of production and logistics, namely the Job Shop Scheduling and the Vehicle Routing Problem, based on examples.