Optimizing diversity

We consider the problem of minimizing the size of a family of sets G such that every subset of {1, . . . , n} can be written as a disjoint union of at most k members of G, where k and n are given numbers. This problem originates in a real-world application aiming at the diversity of industrial production. At the same time, the minimum of |G| so that every subset of {1, . . . , n} is the union of two sets in G has been asked by Erdős and studied recently by Füredi and Katona without requiring the disjointness of the sets. A simple construction providing a feasible solution is conjectured to be optimal for this problem for all values of n and k and regardless of the disjointness requirement; we prove this conjecture in special cases including all (n, k) for which n ≤ 3k holds, and some individual values of n and k.