The SA algorithm has some advantages as well as some
disadvantages. Among its advantages are the relative ease of
implementation, the applicability to almost any combinatorial
optimization problem, depending on the cooling schedule(s) used it
usually provides reasonable solutions, and it can easily be combined
with other heuristics, such as expert systems, forming quite
useful hybrid methods for tackling a range of complex problems.
SA is a robust technique, however, to obtain good results the annealing
runs often require a great deal of computer time which is one of the
major drawbacks of the algorithm.
In summary, depending on the given problem, SA appears competitive
with many of the best local optimization methods.
Figure: The Simulated Annealing Algorithm