A TOC‐based heuristic algorithm for solving a two‐row pattern container loading problem

The container loading problem, a real hard problem, is usually difficult to obtain even a suboptimal solution because of not only multiple complicated restrictions but also of multiple objectives. In this paper, a heuristic algorithm is proposed for solving the two‐row pattern of the container loading problem in real‐world. The algorithm is based on Drum‐Buffer‐Rope (DBR) presented in the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and the multiagent cooperative negotiation model. A particular attention is focused on improving the constrained agent by striving for the trade‐off of restrictions and cooperative negotiations, so that the final solution can arrive its biggest profit.