Multi-task processing oriented production layout based on evolutionary programming mechanism

Abstract Traditional job scheduling is an independent optimization phase without considering material flow among machines. However, in actual production, the machine layout will affect material flow time, and therefore affecting job completion time. In this paper, a novel multi-task-oriented production layout problem is proposed, with the goal to optimize material flow by adjusting machine placement. To solve this problem, a production layout evolution (PLEV) framework is established, which models it as a two-stage optimization problem. In the first stage, a concept of ‘relevance between machines (RBM)’ is proposed The RBM measures the relationship between two machines according to the processing data. And a machine placement scheme is designed based on RBM. In the second stage, a job scheduling rule based on the earliest finish time (EFT) is adopted to evaluate production layouts. Then, through an evolutionary programming mechanism, the production layout can evolve to optimize makespan. Experiments are carried out to verify the feasibility and performance of the proposed PLEV framework. The results demonstrate that promising product layouts for multi-task processing can be obtained by using this framework.