UESP starts CROME project

UESP starts CROME project

The Manufacturing Systems Engineering Unit (UESP) will soon start working on project CROME- Creative Design in Optimization with Metaheuristics. This project will be financed by the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and its aim is to investigate the advantages and the utilization of Creative Thinking and Soft Operational Research (Soft OR) Structuring and Analysis Methods, in order to solve difficult Combinatorial Optimization (CO) problems with Metaheuristics (MH).

21st September 2007

MH's relevance, potential and success are well-known. On the other hand, it is also recognized that, in general, when facing a particular CO problem, there is no easy/unique answer (and there are many) where MH is more convenient. Even when we select one answer, there is no universal way to establish it, to select adequate strategies or to pilot its parameters. In recent years, it has become evident that concentrating on a sole MH is quite restrictive – this is a reason why hybrid approaches should be improved.

This is the context for CROME’s central idea, which is to undertake an approach using creative methods, CPS – Creative Problem Solving, and Soft OR acting at two essential levels: MH selection from an initial compilation; structuring MH implementations, adjusted to specific problems.

This is undeniably an innovative investment since it intends to combine, articulate and integrate different procedures and techniques in order to deal with important and well-known CO problems.

The project is led by José Soeiro Ferreira and the team is set up by Ana Maria Rodrigues, Hugo Caldeira, Maria Helena Correia, Ana Santos and Maria do Rosário Moreira.

The project will also have the collaboration of IMM researchers (Institute of Informatics and Mathematical Modelling), from the Danish Technical University (DTU). It will last 24 months, beginning on 1 November 2007.

BIP September 2007