In recent years a lot of variants of the classical Bin Packing Problems (BPP) have evolved showing that the wide range applications of the problems have intrigued the interest of researchers. However, this paper considers a different problem, that somewhat looks like the opposite of the popular BPP. We denoted it as the Bin Spreading Problem (BSP). This according to our knowledge is a novel model of the integer linear programming applications.

            Problem of this kind arise in real life application especially in logistics and governmental projects to cover wide range of the populace. It is also applicable in blending operations where the aim is to maximize variety. We focus on the case in which source bins have specific compositional contents which are to be blended into a maximum number of sink bins, maximizing variety while minimizing overdose. The bins are to be of fixed columns or sizes.

            The study presents a mathematical model and a heuristic which searches for solution, was developed and implemented manually for a small size problem. The results and analysis shows that another great application of ILP and combinatorial optimization has evolved.

Keywords

Bin spreading; Bin Packing; Integer linear programming; combinatorial optimization; blending