Solving the quadratic assignment problem with clues from nature

Abstract

This paper describes a new evolutionary approach to solving quadratic assignment problems. The proposed technique is based loosely on a class of search and optimization algorithms known as evolution strategies (ES). These methods are inspired by the mechanics of biological evolution and have been applied successfully to a variety of difficult problems, particularly in continuous optimization. The combinatorial variant of ES presented here performs very well on the given test problems as compared with the standard 2-Opt heuristic and results with simulated annealing and tabu search. Extensions for practical applications in factory layout are described.