Optimization of Bin Packing Problems Using Meta Heuristic Approach

Abstract

In recent economical research proved that the survival of a firm in this competitive globalized environment will be possible only if those firms reduce their product cost without compromising the quality. So a necessity arises for those multinational firms to reduce their product cost by optimizing various cost factors. The major factors which influence the product cost are generally categorized as material cost, manufacturing cost, inspection cost, packing cost and distribution cost. The major cost involved in the multi-national firms after manufacturing their products are the transportation and distribution cost. The products should be distributed to the distribution centres in all around the world on right time without damaging the product and with less cost. newlineFor cargo transport, type and number of containers rented from the shipping or from the air cargo is a major issue which influences cost of that product and in-turn the profit margin. Because each container has its own volume and weight limits, based on which freight rates will be calculated by cargo transporters and that freight rate will also be included into the product cost. As the products are from the various industries, its shape, size, weight and nature cannot be homogeneous. During packing of those items, some empty space may be formed inside the container between the packed items. This empty space may lead to instability, usage of additional container, usage of airbags, etc. In turn, there will be an increase in freight rate, transport cost, additional cost, revenues for exporters and in-turn the product cost. newlineBased on the above discussion, it becomes very clear that the cost of the products can also reduced by reducing the cargo cost. This can be achieved only newlineby means of perfect packing. This research work concentrates on perfect packing of goods into the container by considering major practical constraints using evolutionary algorithm, which is essential for a firm to survive in today s the competitive globalized environment. This research is done with few assumptions and constraints by considering the reality of logistics. newlineA Fisherman Based Heuristic Approach (FBHA) and a Sheep Flock Based Meta Heuristic Approach (SFBMHA) have been developed to solve the bin packing problem. In further, Genetic Algorithm (GA) Integrated Approaches (GAIAs) are defined as the combined approach of heuristic/meta heuristic and optimization technique. The proposed FBHA, SFBMHA and GAIAs have to be validated through the standardized problems to determine the efficiency of the methodologies. The GAIAs are better to FBHA and SFBMHA by the integration genetic algorithm, which about 4.5% and 4% respectively in achieving effective space utilization. The process time to achieve the above effectiveness is around 4 and 11 seconds for GAIA-I and GAIA-II respectively. newlineFurther, the proposed approaches are implemented in VRL, Chennai with electronic goods and Safe Express, Chennai with power plant goods. From the outcome of case study, the proposed approaches GAIA I and II have obtained the effective space utilization in a few seconds of processing time compared to other approaches. This study confirms the better performance of proposed approaches for small bin packing problems and heavy bin packing problems. newline