Population Based Metaheuristic Algorithm Approach for Analysis of Multi-Item Multi-Period Procurement Lot Sizing Problem

Abstract

This research study focuses on the optimization of multi-item multi-period procurement lot sizing problem for inventory management. Mathematical model is developed which considers different practical constraints like storage space and budget. The aim is to find optimum order quantities of the product so that total cost of inventory is minimized. The NP-hard mathematical model is solved by adopting a novel ant colony optimization approach. Due to lack of benchmark method specified in the literature to assess the performance of the above approach, another metaheuristic based program of genetic algorithm is also employed to solve the problem. The parameters of genetic algorithm model are calibrated using Taguchi method of experiments. The performance of both algorithms is compared using ANOVA analysis with the real time data collected from a valve manufacturing company. It is verified that two methods have not shown any significant difference as far as objective function value is considered. But genetic algorithm is far better than the ACO method when compared on the basis of CPU execution time.