Clonal Selection Based Memetic Algorithm for Job Shop Scheduling Problems

A clonal selection based memetic algorithm is proposed for solving job shop scheduling problems in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, the clonal selection and the local search mechanism are designed to enhance exploration and exploitation. In the clonal selection mechanism, clonal selection, hypermutation and receptor edit theories are presented to construct an evolutionary searching mechanism which is used for exploration. In the local search mechanism, a simulated annealing local search algorithm based on Nowicki and Smutnicki＇s neighborhood is presented to exploit local optima. The proposed algorithm is examined using some well-known benchmark problems. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Solving flexible job shop scheduling problem by a multi-swarm collaborative genetic algorithm

The flexible job shop scheduling problem(FJSP),which is NP-hard,widely exists in many manufacturing industries.It is very hard to be solved.A multi-swarm collaborative genetic algorithm(MSCGA)based on the collaborative optimization algorithm is proposed for the FJSP.Multi-population structure is used to independently evolve two sub-problems of the FJSP in the MSCGA.Good operators are adopted and designed to ensure this algorithm to achieve a good performance.Some famous FJSP benchmarks are chosen to evaluate the effectiveness of the MSCGA.The adaptability and superiority of the proposed method are demonstrated by comparing with other reported algorithms.

Job shop scheduling problem based on DNA computing

To solve job shop scheduling problem, a new approach-DNA computing is used in solving job shop scheduling problem. The approach using DNA computing to solve job shop scheduling is divided into three stands. Finally, optimum solutions are obtained by sequencing A small job shop scheduling problem is solved in DNA computing, and the ＂operations＂ of the computation were performed with standard protocols, as ligation, synthesis, electrophoresis etc. This work represents further evidence for the ability of DNA computing to solve NP-complete search problems.

Deep Reinforcement Learning Solves Job-shop Scheduling Problems

To solve the sparse reward problem of job-shop scheduling by deep reinforcement learning,a deep reinforcement learning framework considering sparse reward problem is proposed.The job shop scheduling problem is transformed into Markov decision process,and six state features are designed to improve the state feature representation by using two-way scheduling method,including four state features that distinguish the optimal action and two state features that are related to the learning goal.An extended variant of graph isomorphic network GIN++is used to encode disjunction graphs to improve the performance and generalization ability of the model.Through iterative greedy algorithm,random strategy is generated as the initial strategy,and the action with the maximum information gain is selected to expand it to optimize the exploration ability of Actor-Critic algorithm.Through validation of the trained policy model on multiple public test data sets and comparison with other advanced DRL methods and scheduling rules,the proposed method reduces the minimum average gap by 3.49%,5.31%and 4.16%,respectively,compared with the priority rule-based method,and 5.34%compared with the learning-based method.11.97%and 5.02%,effectively improving the accuracy of DRL to solve the approximate solution of JSSP minimum completion time.

Energy-Saving Distributed Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Optimization with Dual Resource Constraints Based on Integrated Q-Learning Multi-Objective Grey Wolf Optimizer

The distributed flexible job shop scheduling problem(DFJSP)has attracted great attention with the growth of the global manufacturing industry.General DFJSP research only considers machine constraints and ignores worker constraints.As one critical factor of production,effective utilization of worker resources can increase productivity.Meanwhile,energy consumption is a growing concern due to the increasingly serious environmental issues.Therefore,the distributed flexible job shop scheduling problem with dual resource constraints(DFJSP-DRC)for minimizing makespan and total energy consumption is studied in this paper.To solve the problem,we present a multi-objective mathematical model for DFJSP-DRC and propose a Q-learning-based multi-objective grey wolf optimizer(Q-MOGWO).In Q-MOGWO,high-quality initial solutions are generated by a hybrid initialization strategy,and an improved active decoding strategy is designed to obtain the scheduling schemes.To further enhance the local search capability and expand the solution space,two wolf predation strategies and three critical factory neighborhood structures based on Q-learning are proposed.These strategies and structures enable Q-MOGWO to explore the solution space more efficiently and thus find better Pareto solutions.The effectiveness of Q-MOGWO in addressing DFJSP-DRC is verified through comparison with four algorithms using 45 instances.The results reveal that Q-MOGWO outperforms comparison algorithms in terms of solution quality.

Applying Job Shop Scheduling to SMEs Manufacturing Platform to Revitalize B2B Relationship

A small and medium enterprises(SMEs)manufacturing platform aims to perform as a significant revenue to SMEs and vendors by providing scheduling and monitoring capabilities.The optimal job shop scheduling is generated by utilizing the scheduling system of the platform,and a minimum production time,i.e.,makespan decides whether the scheduling is optimal or not.This scheduling result allows manufacturers to achieve high productivity,energy savings,and customer satisfaction.Manufacturing in Industry 4.0 requires dynamic,uncertain,complex production environments,and customer-centered services.This paper proposes a novel method for solving the difficulties of the SMEs manufacturing by applying and implementing the job shop scheduling system on a SMEs manufacturing platform.The primary purpose of the SMEs manufacturing platform is to improve the B2B relationship between manufacturing companies and vendors.The platform also serves qualified and satisfactory production opportunities for buyers and producers by meeting two key factors:early delivery date and fulfillment of processing as many orders as possible.The genetic algorithm(GA)-based scheduling method results indicated that the proposed platform enables SME manufacturers to obtain optimized schedules by solving the job shop scheduling problem(JSSP)by comparing with the real-world data from a textile weaving factory in South Korea.The proposed platform will provide producers with an optimal production schedule,introduce new producers to buyers,and eventually foster relationships and mutual economic interests.

Modified bottleneck-based heuristic for large-scale job-shop scheduling problems with a single bottleneck

A modified bottleneck-based （MB） heuristic for large-scale job-shop scheduling problems with a welldefined bottleneck is suggested, which is simpler but more tailored than the shifting bottleneck （SB） procedure. In this algorithm, the bottleneck is first scheduled optimally while the non-bottleneck machines are subordinated around the solutions of the bottleneck schedule by some effective dispatching rules. Computational results indicate that the MB heuristic can achieve a better tradeoff between solution quality and computational time compared to SB procedure for medium-size problems. Furthermore, it can obtain a good solution in a short time for large-scale jobshop scheduling problems.

Emergency Local Searching Approach for Job Shop Scheduling

Existing methods of local search mostly focus on how to reach optimal solution.However,in some emergency situations,search time is the hard constraint for job shop scheduling problem while optimal solution is not necessary.In this situation,the existing method of local search is not fast enough.This paper presents an emergency local search(ELS) approach which can reach feasible and nearly optimal solution in limited search time.The ELS approach is desirable for the aforementioned emergency situations where search time is limited and a nearly optimal solution is sufficient,which consists of three phases.Firstly,in order to reach a feasible and nearly optimal solution,infeasible solutions are repaired and a repair technique named group repair is proposed.Secondly,in order to save time,the amount of local search moves need to be reduced and this is achieved by a quickly search method named critical path search(CPS).Finally,CPS sometimes stops at a solution far from the optimal one.In order to jump out the search dilemma of CPS,a jump technique based on critical part is used to improve CPS.Furthermore,the schedule system based on ELS has been developed and experiments based on this system completed on the computer of Intel Pentium(R) 2.93 GHz.The experimental result shows that the optimal solutions of small scale instances are reached in 2 s,and the nearly optimal solutions of large scale instances are reached in 4 s.The proposed ELS approach can stably reach nearly optimal solutions with manageable search time,and can be applied on some emergency situations.

ANALYSIS AND IMPROVEMENT OF LEAD TIME FOR JOB SHOP UNDER MIXED PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Firstly an overview of the potential impact on work-in-process （WIP） and lead time is provided when transfer lot sizes are undifferentiated from processing lot sizes. Simple performance examples are compared to those from a shop with one-piece transfer lots. Next, a mathematical programming model for minimizing lead time in the mixed-model job shop is presented, in which one-piece transfer lots are used. Key factors affecting lead time are found by analyzing the sum of the longest setup time of individual items among the shared processes （SLST） and the longest processing time of individual items among processes （LPT）. And lead time can be minimized by cutting down the SLST and LPT. Reduction of the SLST is described as a traveling salesman problem （TSP）, and the minimum of the SLST is solved through job shop scheduling. Removing the bottleneck and leveling the production line optimize the LPT. If the number of items produced is small, the routings are relatively short, and items and facilities are changed infrequently, the optimal schedule will remain valid. Finally a brief example serves to illustrate the method.