The Alternating Method in max-algebra is an efficient approach for solving two-sided max-linear systems of the form $A \otimes x=B \otimes y$, where $A$, $B$ are matrices and $x$, $y$ are vectors of compatible sizes. This iterative procedure typically begins with a randomly chosen initial vector. In the case when matrices $A$ and $B$ are integer matrices and one is finite while the other has at least one finite element in each row and in each column, and provided that the initial vector is also an integer vector, an upper bound on the number of iterations can be determined. This paper proposes starting the Alternating Method with a vector selected based on the matrix elements of $\tilde{A}=(-A^\top) \otimes A$, where $A$ is a finite matrix of the given system, instead of using a randomly selected vector. This choice of initial vector aims to minimize the number of iterations in the Alternating Method. We have proved that, with the proposed choice of initial vector, the number of iterations is bounded above by the expression containing the maximum element of matrix $\tilde{A}$. From this statement, we derive additional conclusions regarding this bound. Finally, we compare the number of iterations in the Alternating Method when it starts from a randomly chosen vector versus when it starts from the vector we propose in this study.
max-algebra, Alternating Method, two-sided systems, integer matrices
15A80, 15A24