A Beam Search approach for the optimization version of the Car Sequencing Problem

Abstract The Car Sequencing Problem (CSP) is a feasibility problem that has attracted the attention of the Constraint Programming community for a number of years now. In this paper, a new version (opt-CSP) that extends the original problem is defined, converting this into an optimization problem in which the goal is to satisfy the typical hard constraints. This paper presents a solution procedure for opt-CSP using Beam Search. Computational results are presented using public instances that verify the goodness of the procedure and demonstrate its excellent performance in obtaining feasible solutions for the majority of instances while satisfying the new constraints.

[1]  Ian P. Gent Two Results on Car-sequencing Problems , 1998 .

[2]  Joaquín Bautista,et al.  Heuristics and exact algorithms for solving the Monden problem , 1996 .

[3]  Nicolas Zufferey,et al.  Tabu Search for a Car Sequencing Problem , 2006, FLAIRS Conference.

[4]  Alf Kimms,et al.  Algorithms for the car sequencing and the level scheduling problem , 2006, J. Sched..

[5]  Pascal Van Hentenryck,et al.  Solving the Car-Sequencing Problem in Constraint Logic Programming , 1988, ECAI.

[6]  Marc Gravel,et al.  Review and comparison of three methods for the solution of the car sequencing problem , 2005, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[7]  Upendra Dave,et al.  Heuristic Scheduling Systems , 1993 .

[8]  Jean-Charles Régin,et al.  A Filtering Algorithm for Global Sequencing Constraints , 1997, CP.

[9]  Edward P. K. Tsang,et al.  Foundations of constraint satisfaction , 1993, Computation in cognitive science.

[10]  Bruce T. Lowerre,et al.  The HARPY speech recognition system , 1976 .

[11]  Christian Blum,et al.  Beam-ACO - hybridizing ant colony optimization with beam search: an application to open shop scheduling , 2005, Comput. Oper. Res..

[12]  John B. Kidd,et al.  Toyota Production System , 1993 .

[13]  Roberto Tadei,et al.  Recovering Beam Search: Enhancing the Beam Search Approach for Combinatorial Optimization Problems , 2004, J. Heuristics.

[14]  Christine Solnon,et al.  A Study of Greedy, Local Search, and Ant Colony Optimization Approaches for Car Sequencing Problems , 2003, EvoWorkshops.

[15]  P. Ow,et al.  Filtered beam search in scheduling , 1988 .

[16]  Zineb Habbas,et al.  Solving the Car-Sequencing Problem as a Non-binary CSP , 2005, CP.

[17]  Pascal Van Hentenryck,et al.  Constraint Satisfaction Using Constraint Logic Programming , 1992, Artif. Intell..

[18]  Marc Gravel,et al.  Solving real car sequencing problems with ant colony optimization , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[19]  Rolf Drechsler,et al.  Applications of Evolutionary Computing, EvoWorkshops 2008: EvoCOMNET, EvoFIN, EvoHOT, EvoIASP, EvoMUSART, EvoNUM, EvoSTOC, and EvoTransLog, Naples, Italy, March 26-28, 2008. Proceedings , 2008, EvoWorkshops.