Integrating Advanced Harmony Search with Fuzzy Logic for Solving Buffer Allocation Problems

This paper introduces a new fuzzy advanced harmony search algorithm for solving single-objective buffer allocation problems (BAPs). The proposed algorithm represents the first attempt at solving BAPs using a fuzzy logic system, by tuning the advanced harmony search control parameters. The main steps of the proposed algorithm included parameter initialisation, harmony memory initialisation and evaluation, improvisation, harmony memory update, AHS parameter update, and termination criterion check. The aim of this approach is to achieve a better convergence rate and avoid the stacking of local optima. The performance of the proposed algorithm was compared with other methods used in solving BAPs. The proposed approach has shown a higher capability in finding optimal solutions compared to previous methods used for two benchmark problems. Improvement of up to 94.75% in the overall throughput is reported for the 3-stage problem, while for the 12-stage problem, a slight improvement (up to 7.58%) is also reported in the overall throughput. The results achieved indicate that the proposed algorithm is an efficient and promising tool in solving BAPs.