Simulation optimization with the linear move and exchange move optimization algorithm

The linear move and exchange move optimization (LEG) is an algorithm based on a simulated annealing algorithm (SA), a relatively recent algorithm for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems. The LEO algorithm was successfully applied to a facility layout problem, a scheduling problem and a line balancing problem. We try to apply the LEO algorithm to the problem of optimizing a manufacturing simulation model, based on a steelworks plant. This paper also demonstrates the effectiveness and versatility of this algorithm. We compare the search effort of this algorithm with a genetic algorithm (GA) implementation of the same problem