Optimization Networks for Real-World Production and Logistics Problems

With the continuous advancement of industry 4.0, also in the area of production and logistics optimization, a more holistic consideration of problems is required. Therefore, in contrary to the traditional sequential optimization approach in the area of operations research, in this paper, an integrated solution approach called optimization networks (ON) is presented. In an ON, multiple problem models get connected and optimized by an evolutionary solution algorithm. By having several optimization runs, in which the results of the preceding optimizations are considered, opportunity costs which could arise out of a traditional sequential optimization approach, are avoided.