Abstract: Because the basic ant colony algorithm is easy to fall into local optimal solution, slow convergence and
other shortcomings, and the economy-matrix is firstly introduced as a priori information to guide ants, then
evaporation factor by different periods with different search pheromone make the algorithm balance between
“explore冶 and “use冶. The optimal solution is optimized by 2-opt method. Finally, the improved ant colony
algorithm is applied to physical distribution and vehicle routing optimization problem. The tests results show that
it is better than the basic ant colony algorithm of physical distribution path, and it is an effective method to solve
physical distribution route optimization problem, quickly and efficiently carry out the adjustment of the physical
distribution path to meet the needs of consumers.

Key words:  ant colony algorithm, physical distribution, pheromone