This paper presents a new hybrid algorithm generated by combining advantageous features of the Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) and Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO) to create an effective search technique. Although ICA performs fairly well in exploration phase, it is less exploitation stage. In addition, its convergence speed problematic some instances. Meanwhile, BBO method's migra...

Production scheduling (planning) of an open-pit mine is the procedure during which the rock blocks are assigned to different production periods in a way that the highest net present value of the project achieved subject to operational constraints. The paper introduces a new and computationally less expensive meta-heuristic technique known as imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) for long-term...

this paper investigates the problem of just-in-time permutation flow shop scheduling with limited buffers and linear job deterioration in an uncertain environment. the fuzzy set theory is applied to describe this situation. a novel mixed-integer nonlinear program is presented to minimize the weighted sum of fuzzy earliness and tardiness penalties. due to the computational complexities, the prop...

The allocation of design tolerances between the components of a mechanical assembly and manufacturing tolerances can significantly affect the functionality of products and related production costs. This paper introduces Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) approach to solve the machining tolerance allocation of an overrunning clutch assembly.  The objective is to obtain optimum tolerances of...