Many industrial and production problems have been studied by a variety of research teams, some of which have focused on optimization methods and others on simulation. This has changed over recent years and nowadays optimization and simulation methods are closely linked; an approach that brings a lot of benefits. These two areas have been linked in different ways. We have opted to use optimization within a simulation framework.

The intention of this track is to show the state of the art and some applications of optimization in solving problems with simulation tools, such as petri nets. The search of a petri net tree can be done using some metaheuristic methods - for example, 2-opt - for a faster way of finding the solution. Another technique, the use of some optimization techniques that have been successfully applied with integer binary programming, such as disjunctive logic, is showed here.

Overall objectives of the track

• To identify and publish methods using optimization and simulation as well as some applications.
• To provide the academic community with a basic text that could be used for reference in industrial engineering and operations research.
• To propose hybrid methodologies and algorithms, combining simulation and optimization techniques, to develop efficient methodologies.