A hybrid simulated annealing algorithm for three-dimensional multi-bin packing problems

In this paper, we present a novel hybrid simulated annealing algorithm (HSAA) to efficiently solve three-dimensional multi-bin packing problems. Combined with the concept of the batch and the block, a kind of seven-tuple structure is proposed to optimize the feasible packing space in this algorithm. Moreover, the memory function is increased in the searching process. The computational results indicate that HSAA is rather efficient, and can obtain near-optimal solutions within very short times.