Optimization of Makespan and Mean Flow Time of Job Shop Scheduling Problem FT06 using ACO

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is inspired by the foraging behavior of the ants which are mostly blind but due to the indirect means of communication between the ants called stigmergy, they follow the shortest path between their nest and the source of the food. The swarm intelligence of the ants is then translated into the artificial intelligence by means of ant colony optimization metaheuristics. Job Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP) is very prominent area of a manufacturing environment. These problems are called Combinatorial Optimization Problems (COP) which are NP-hard. The solution of these NP-hard problem through exact algorithm is not suitable. The best way to tackle such problems is the metaheuristic approach which finds out the optimal solution in minimum possible time. There exits many metaheuristics approaches to solve such COP like Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Simulated Annealing (SA) and ACO. In this paper COP from the manufacturing environment, JSSP FT06 will be solved through ACO based algorithm with the objective function to minimize the makespan and mean flow time. The results of the proposed algorithm will be checked against the Best Known Solution (BKS) of the benchmark problem FT06. This paper will show how the proposed algorithm has produced better results than the BKS of the FT06. Then the achieved results will be compared with the results of the other metaheuristic approaches like GA, Conventional Clonal Selection Algorithm (CSA), Positive Selection based Modified Clonal Selection Algorithm (PSMCSA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Tabu Search (TS). This paper shall discuss the results and its analysis in detail regarding the makespan, mean flow time and the computational time of the FT06 problem. And in the end this paper shall draw conclusion on the basis of this research and shall render some recommendations as well. [Mehmood N, Umer M, Ahmad R, Farhan A. Optimization of Makespan and Mean Flow Time for Job Shop Scheduling Problem FT06 Using ACO. Life Sci J 2013;10(4):477-484] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 62