Solving a flexible resource-constrained project scheduling problem for an e-grocery fulfilment centre: a meta-heuristic approach: Master thesis Aerospace Engineering

The demand for online shopping has grown tremendously in the last couple of years. Picnic, a major player in the online grocery industry, is struggling to achieve long-term growth within its current operations. Scheduling and planning are key drivers for maintaining operational efficiency. The Fulfilment Centre (FC) and...

An improved Tabu Search for optimising the configuration of an agent-based simulation model of a novel security checkpoint

The major international airport, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, is redesigning its security checkpoints for 2024, for which a novel type of security checkpoint configuration is considered. In this redesign, one seeks to find the optimal checkpoint configuration; however, this remains non-trivial. The checkpoint configuration problem requires a...

Modeling System Behaviour from Log Analysis Using Meta-Heuristic Search

Understanding the behaviour of a software system plays a key role in its development and maintenance processes. Unfortunately, accurate and concise models are not always available during development, due to the rapid changes in the structure and scale systems may undergo during this phase. Finite State Machines (FSM) are a natural and prevalent...

A data-driven heuristic decision strategy for data-scarce optimization: with an application towards bio-based composites

Algorithmic optimization is a viable tool for solving complex materials engineering issues. In this study, a data-scarce Bayesian optimization model was developed to research the composition of bio-based composites. The proof-of-concept program adjusts the natural materials' weight ratios to optimize towards user-defined mechanical properties....

Hybrid truss layout optimization for generating multiple design alternatives

As of writing this thesis little research has been done in truss layout optimization for multiple design alternatives. A hybrid scheme is proposed in which the fast gradient-based search of the Ground Structure Method (GSM) is employed for the search of optimal topology and size, while a population-based meta-heuristic algorithm explores the non...

Meta-heuristic improvement of order picking efficiency: Exploiting cross-order similarity in a goods-to-person warehouse

This research aims at determining a suitable order release strategy for a warehouse featuring a shuttle-based storage and retrieval system with multiple goods-to-person picking workstations. These picking workstations facilitate efficient picking; however, current release strategies do not take similarity between orders into account, while this...

Automated dig-limit optimization through simulated annealing