The bond energy algorithm revisited

The bond energy algorithm of W.T. McCormick, P.J. Schweitzer, and T.W. White (Oper. Res., vol.20, p.993-1009, 1972) is examined in the context of related strategies of data analysis that seek to solve problems in production research, imaging, and related engineering problems. A taxonomy of types of input data and forms of matrix structure, adopted from other areas of data analysis, serves to clarify some distinctions that have been at most implicit in published alternatives to the bond energy approach. The objective function initially proposed for this approach is considered, and some of its properties and resulting limitations are deduced. Some extensions of the original technique are offered, and one alternative is criticized