This book is the first work dedicated to the Bees Algorithm. Following a gentle introduction to the main ideas underpinning the algorithm, the book presents recent results and developments relating to the algorithm and its application to optimisation problems in production and manufacturing.

With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, production and manufacturing processes and systems have become more complex. To obtain the best performance from them requires efficient and effective optimisation techniques that do not depend on the availability of process or system models. Such models are usually either not obtainable or mathematically intractable due to the high degrees of nonlinearities and uncertainties in the processes and systems to be represented. The Bees Algorithm is a powerful swarm-based intelligent optimisation metaheuristic inspired by the foraging behaviour of honeybees. The algorithm is conceptually elegant and extremely easy to apply. All it needs to solve an optimisation problem is a means to evaluate the quality of potential solutions.

This book demonstrates the simplicity, effectiveness and versatility of the algorithm and encourages its further adoption by engineers and researchers across the world to realise smart and sustainable manufacturing and production in the age of Industry 4.0 and beyond.

Duc Truong Pham PhD DEng holds the Chance Chair of Engineering at the University of Birmingham where he started his career as a lecturer in robotics and control engineering following undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Prior to returning to Birmingham in 2011, he was Professor of Computer-Controlled Manufacture and Director of the Manufacturing Engineering Centre at Cardiff University. His research is in the areas of intelligent systems, robotics and autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing technology. He has graduated more than 100 PhD students and, together with them and other research collaborators, has published over 600 technical papers including the original article on The Bees Algorithm. He is a recipient of several awards, notably, five best paper prizes from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Automation Congress and a Distinguished International Academic Contribution Award from the IEEE. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Learned Society of Wales, the Society for Manufacturing Engineers, the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was made an OBE in the Queen's 2003 New Year Honours List.

Natalia Hartono has been an Assistant Professor at University of Pelita Harapan, Indonesia, since 2016. She began her career as a lecturer in 2004 following undergraduate studies in Industrial Engineering at Maranatha Christian University and postgraduate studies in Industrial Engineering and Management at Bandung Institute of Technology, also in Indonesia. In 2019, she received a scholarship from the Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education for her Doctoral Studies at the University of Birmingham. Her research interests include operations research, supply chain management, product planning and design, the Bees Algorithm, intelligent systems, remanufacturing, and Structural Equation Modelling applications. She has one copyright and three industrial design rights from Ministry of Law and Human Rights Republic of Indonesia. She has published more than 35 articles in international and Indonesian journals and conferences. She has won three prizes for posters and presentations on her research at the University of Birmingham and was the co-winner of the Borg Automotive Reman Challenge 2021. She is a member of the International Association of Engineers, The Institution of Engineers Indonesia, and Supply Chain and Logistics Indonesia.