A novel extremal optimization approach for the template design problem

This paper presents a novel algorithm based on extremal dynamics for tackling the template design problem, a constrained optimization problem that originated in the printing industry. The template design problem involves printing several variations of a design onto one or more stencil sheets, where the aims are to minimize the number of stencils as well as the overproduction of prints of a particular design. In this paper, the authors introduce several search operators to be used in conjunction with the proposed algorithm. Different combinations of these search operators are tested via extensive numerical experiments. The solutions indicate that the algorithm is a feasible approach for template design optimization. In particular, hybridizing it with a deterministic local search has proven to be very effective