The Dung Beetle Optimization Algorithm (DBO) is characterized by its great convergence accuracy and quick convergence speed. However, like other swarm intelligent optimization algorithms, it also has the disadvantages of having an unbalanced ability to explore the world and to use local resources, as well as being prone to settling into local optimal search in the latter stages of optimization. In order to address these issues, this research suggests a multi-strategy fusion dung beetle optimization method (MSFDBO). To enhance the quality of the first solution, the refractive reverse learning technique expands the algorithm search space in the first stage. The algorithm’s accuracy is increased by adding an adaptive curve to control the dung beetle population size and prevent it from reaching a local optimum. In order to improve and balance local exploitation and global exploration, respectively, a triangle wandering strategy and a fusion subtractive averaging optimizer were later added to Rolling Dung Beetle and Breeding Dung Beetle. Individual beetles will congregate at the current optimal position, which is near the optimal value, during the last optimization stage of the MSFDBO; however, the current optimal value could not be the global optimal value. Thus, to variationally perturb the global optimal solution (so that it leaps out of the local optimal solution in the final optimization stage of the MSFDBO) and to enhance algorithmic performance (generally and specifically, in the effect of optimizing the search), an adaptive Gaussian–Cauchy hybrid variational perturbation factor is introduced. Using the CEC2017 benchmark function, the MSFDBO’s performance is verified by comparing it to seven different intelligence optimization algorithms. The MSFDBO ranks first in terms of average performance. The MSFDBO can lower the labor and production expenses associated with welding beam and reducer design after testing two engineering application challenges. When it comes to lowering manufacturing costs and overall weight, the MSFDBO outperforms other swarm intelligence optimization methods.

To address the imbalance between global exploration and local exploitation in the secretary bird optimization algorithm (SBOA), this paper presents a multi-strategy improved version termed MSISBOA. The proposed approach incorporates optimal Latin hypercube sampling during initialization to achieve a more uniform distribution of initial solutions. In the hunting phase, an adaptive Cauchy mutation factor and a boundary strategy are integrated to refine local search precision. To reduce the risk of stagnation in local optima during later iterations, a triangular walk strategy is utilized for mutation perturbation. Furthermore, the escape phase employs a combined Tent chaotic-Gaussian mutation factor and an elite retention strategy to maintain high-quality solutions while diversifying the population. The performance of MSISBOA was evaluated using the benchmark suites released for the IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), including CEC-2017 and CEC-2022, against nine other swarm intelligence algorithms, with statistical results showing that MSISBOA achieved the highest average rank. Additionally, the algorithm was applied to 18 engineering optimization problems to assess its capability in solving practical constrained tasks. Experimental results indicate that MSISBOA provides competitive convergence characteristics and solution quality across the tested scenarios.