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Publications

Publications by SYSTEM

2020

Adaptive Sequence-Based Heuristic for the Three-Dimensional Bin Packing Problem

Authors
Oliveira, O; Matos, T; Gamboa, D;

Publication
LEARNING AND INTELLIGENT OPTIMIZATION, LION

Abstract
We consider the three-dimensional Bin Packing Problem in which a set of boxes must be packed into the minimum number of identical bins. We present a heuristic that iteratively creates new sequences of boxes that defines the packing order used to generate a new solution. The sequences are generated retaining, adaptively, characteristics of previous sequences for search intensification and diversification. Computational experiments of the effectiveness of this approach are presented and discussed.

2020

A Simple Dual-RAMP Algorithm for the Uncapacitated Multiple Allocation Hub Location Problem

Authors
Matos, T; Maia, F; Gamboa, D;

Publication
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing

Abstract
This paper presents a Dual-RAMP algorithm for the solution of the multiple allocation hub location problem (UMAHLP). This approach combines information of a lagrangean relaxation procedure with subgradient optimization on the dual side with primal-feasible solutions on primal side, that are obtained by a simple improvement method. The overall performance of the proposed algorithm was tested on standard Australian Post (AP) and Civil Aeronautics Boarding (CAB) instances, comprising 192 test instances. The effectiveness of our approach has been proven by comparing our results with other state-of-the-art algorithms. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

2019

Optimal design of additive manufacturing supply chains

Authors
Basto, J; Ferreira, JS; Alcalá, SGS; Frazzon, E; Moniz, S;

Publication
Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

Abstract
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is one of the most trending production technologies, with a growing number of companies looking forward to implementing it in their processes. Producing through AM not only means that there are no supplier lead times needed to account for, but also enables production closer to the end customer, reducing then the delivery time. This is especially true for companies with a wide range of low and variable demand products. This paper proposes a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model for the optimal design of supply chains facing the introduction of AM processes. In the addressed problem, the 3D printers allocation to distribution centers (DC), that will make or customize parts, and the Suppliers-DC-Customers connections for each product need to be defined. The model aims at minimizing the supply chain costs, exploring the trade-offs between safety stock and stockout costs, and between buying and 3D printing a part. The main relevant characteristics of this model are the introduction of stock service levels as decision variables and the use of a linearization of the cumulative distribution function to account for demand uncertainty. A real-world problem from a maintenance provider is solved, showing the applicability of the model. © 2019, IEOM Society International.

2019

A co-evolutionary matheuristic for the car stochastic problem

Authors
Oliveira, BB; Carravilla, MA; Oliveira, JF; Costa, AM;

Publication
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH

Abstract
When planning a selling season, a car rental company must decide on the number and type of vehicles in the fleet to meet demand. The demand for the rental products is uncertain and highly price-sensitive, and thus capacity and pricing decisions are interconnected. Moreover, since the products are rentals, capacity "returns". This creates a link between capacity with fleet deployment and other tools that allow the company to meet demand, such as upgrades, transferring vehicles between locations or temporarily leasing additional vehicles. We propose a methodology that aims to support decision-makers with different risk profiles plan a season, providing good solutions and outlining their ability to deal with uncertainty when little information about it is available. This matheuristic is based on a co-evolutionary genetic algorithm, where parallel populations of solutions and scenarios co-evolve. The fitness of a solution depends on the risk profile of the decision-maker and its performance against the scenarios, which is obtained by solving a mathematical programming model. The fitness of a scenario is based on its contribution in making the scenario population representative and diverse. This is measured by the impact the scenarios have on the solutions. Computational experiments show the potential of this methodology regarding the quality of the solutions obtained and the diversity and representativeness of the set of scenarios generated. Its main advantages are that no information regarding probability distributions is required, it supports different decision-making risk profiles, and it provides a set of good solutions for an innovative complex application.

2019

Data mining based framework to assess solution quality for the rectangular 2D strip-packing problem

Authors
Neuenfeldt, A Jr; Silva, E; Gomes, M; Soares, C; Oliveira, JF;

Publication
EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS

Abstract
In this paper, we explore the use of reference values (predictors) for the optimal objective function value of hard combinatorial optimization problems, instead of bounds, obtained by data mining techniques, and that may be used to assess the quality of heuristic solutions for the problem. With this purpose, we resort to the rectangular two-dimensional strip-packing problem (2D-SPP), which can be found in many industrial contexts. Mostly this problem is solved by heuristic methods, which provide good solutions. However, heuristic approaches do not guarantee optimality, and lower bounds are generally used to give information on the solution quality, in particular, the area lower bound. But this bound has a severe accuracy problem. Therefore, we propose a data mining-based framework capable of assessing the quality of heuristic solutions for the 2D-SPP. A regression model was fitted by comparing the strip height solutions obtained with the bottom-left-fill heuristic and 19 predictors provided by problem characteristics. Random forest was selected as the data mining technique with the best level of generalisation for the problem, and 30,000 problem instances were generated to represent different 2D-SPP variations found in real-world applications. Height predictions for new problem instances can be found in the regression model fitted. In the computational experimentation, we demonstrate that the data mining-based framework proposed is consistent, opening the doors for its application to finding predictions for other combinatorial optimisation problems, in particular, other cutting and packing problems. However, how to use a reference value instead of a bound, has still a large room for discussion and innovative ideas. Some directions for the use of reference values as a stopping criterion in search algorithms are also provided.

2019

A Benders Decomposition Algorithm for the Berth Allocation Problem

Authors
Barbosa, F; Oliveira, JF; Carravilla, MA; Curcio, EF;

Publication
Springer Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics

Abstract
In this paper we present a Benders decomposition approach for the Berth Allocation Problem (BAP). Benders decomposition is a cutting plane method that has been widely used for solving large-scale mixed integer linear optimization problems. On the other hand, the Berth Allocation Problem is a NP-hard and large-scale problem that has been gaining relevance both from the practical and scientific points of view. In this work we address the discrete and dynamic version of the problem, and develop a new decomposition approach and apply it to a reformulation of the BAP based on the Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (HVRPTW) model. In a discrete and dynamic BAP each berth can moor one vessel at a time, and the vessels are not all available to moor at the beginning of the planning horizon (there is an availability time window). Computational tests are run to compare the proposed Benders Decomposition with a state-of-the-art commercial solver. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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