This chapter surveys two methods for the optimization of real-world systems that are modelled through simulation. These methods use either linear regression metamodels, or Kriging (Gaussian processes). The metamodel type guides the design of the experiment; this design fixes the input...

Sequential bifurcation (or SB) is an efficient and effective factor-screening method; i.e., SB quickly identifies the important factors (inputs) in experiments with simulation models that have very many factors — provided the SB assumptions are valid. The specific SB assumptions are: (i) a...

Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) is a popular method that searches sequentially for the global optimum of a simulated system. EGO treats the simulation model as a black-box, and balances local and global searches. In deterministic simulation, EGO uses ordinary Kriging (OK), which is a special...

An important goal of simulation is optimization of the corresponding real system. We focus on simulation models with multiple responses (out-puts), selecting one response as the variable to be maximized or minimized while the remaining responses satisfy prespecified thresholds; i.e., we focus on...

This article uses a sequentialized experimental design to select simulation input combinations for global optimization, based on Kriging (also called Gaussian process or spatial correlation modeling); this Kriging is used to analyze the input/output data of the simulation model (computer code)....

In this paper we investigate global optimization for black-box simulations using metamodels to guide this optimization. As a novel metamodel we introduce intrinsic Kriging, for either deterministic or random simulation. For deterministic simulation we study the famous 'e fficient global...

Kriging provides metamodels for deterministic and random simulation models. Actually, there are several types of Kriging; the classic type is so-called universal Kriging, which includes ordinary Kriging. These classic types require estimation of the trend in the input-output data of the...

In practice, most computers generate simulation outputs sequentially, so it is attractive to analyze these outputs through sequential statistical methods such as sequential probability ratio tests (SPRTs). We investigate several SPRTs for choosing between two hypothesized values for the mean...

This article illustrates simulation optimization through an (s, S) inventory management system. In this system, the goal function to be minimized is the expected value of specific inventory costs. Moreover, specific constraints must be satisfied for some random simulation responses, namely the...

Kriging is a popular method for estimating the global optimum of a simulated system. Kriging approximates the input/output function of the simulation model. Kriging also estimates the variances of the predictions of outputs for input combinations not yet simulated. These predictions and their...