Treatment of combinatorial optimization problems using selection equationswith cost terms. Part II. NP-hard three-dimensional assignment problems

While Part I of our work (Physica D 134 (1999) 227-241) introduced the appr oach of coupled selection equations with cost terms in general and treated the two-dimensional assignment problem in detail, this second part presents the adaptation of the method to the NP-hard three-dimensional assignment p roblem. This is a special combinatorial optimization problem which occurs f or example in manufacturing planning and flexible manufacturing systems. Op timal parameter settings are investigated numerically. The capability of ou r dynamical system approach using coupled selection equations with cost ter ms is demonstrated by simulation results. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.