Solving fuzzy solid transportation problems by an evolutionary algorithm based parametric approach

The Solid Transportation Problem (STP) arises when bounds are given on three item properties. The Fuzzy Solid Transportation Problem (FSTP) appears when the nature of the data problem is fuzzy. This paper deals with the FSTP in the case in which the fuzziness affects the constraint set, and a fuzzy solution to the problem is required, Moreover, an arbitrary linear or nonlinear objective function is considered. In order to find a fuzzy solution to the problem, a parametric approach is used to obtain an auxiliary Parametric Solid Transportation Problem (PSTP) associated to the original problem. As there are no well-known solution methods proposed in literature to solve effectively the PSTP, in this paper an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) based solution method is proposed to solve it, which can finally be applied to find a "good" fuzzy solution to the FSTP. Comparisons with another conventional method are presented and the results show the EA based approach to be better as a whole. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.