Metamodel-Assisted Simulation-Based Optimisation of Manufacturing Systems (Camera Ready)

Many real-world manufacturing problems are too complex to be modelled analytically. In these scenarios, simulation-based optimisation is a powerful tool to determine optimal system settings. While traditional optimisation methods have been unable to cope with the complexities of many real-world problems approached by simulation, evolutionary methods have proven to be highly useful. This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm for the simulation-based optimisation of manufacturing systems. To increase the overall efficiency, the algorithm incorporates a computationally efficient metamodel. The paper describes the fundamentals of the algorithm and how it has been applied to two realworld manufacturing optimisation problems.