Evolutionary approaches for supply chain optimisation: Part I: single and two‐component supply chains

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper and its companion (Part II: multi‐silo supply chains) is to investigate methods to tackle complexities, constraints (including time‐varying constraints) and other challenges. In tis part, the paper aims to devote attention to single silo and two‐silo supply chains. It also aims to discuss three models. The first model is based on the winebottling real‐world system and exposes complexities of a single operational component of the supply chain. The second model extends it to two components: production and distribution. The last system is a real‐world implementation of the two‐component supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

Evolutionary approach is proposed for a single component problem. The two‐component experimental supply chain is addressed by the algorithm based on cooperative coevolution. The final problem of steel sheet production is tackled with the evolutionary algorithm.

Findings

The proposed systems produce solutions better than solutions proposed by human experts and in a much shorter time.

Originality/value

The paper discusses various algorithms to provide the decision support for the real‐world problems. The proposed systems are in the production use.

Citation

Ibrahimov, M., Mohais, A., Schellenberg, S. and Michalewicz, Z. (2012), "Evolutionary approaches for supply chain optimisation: Part I: single and two‐component supply chains", International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 444-472. https://doi.org/10.1108/17563781211282231