Hybrid heuristic algorithms for the multiobjective load balancing of 2D bin packing problems

Abstract

2D Bin packing problem (2DBPP) is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem.Multiobjective versions of this well-known industrial engineering problem can occur frequently in real world application. Recently, Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithms have appear as a new area of research with their ability to combine alternative heuristics and local search mechanisms together for higher quality solutions. In this study, we propose a set of novel multiobjective hybrid genetic and memetic algorithms that make use of the state-of-the-art metaheuristics and local search techniques for minimizing the number of bins while also maintaining the load balance. We analyze the optimization time and the resulting solution quality of the proposed algorithms on an offline 2DBPP benchmark problem setwith 500 instances. Using these results of exhaustive experiments, we conclude that the proposed hybrid algorithms are robust with their ability to obtain a high percentage of the optimal solutions.