A hybrid nested partitions algorithm for scheduling flexible resource in flow shop problem

Production scheduling with flexible resources is critical and challenging in many modern manufacturing firms. This paper applies the nested partitions (NP) framework to solve the flexible resource flow shop scheduling (FRFS) problem using an efficient hybrid NP algorithm. By considering the domain knowledge, the ordinal optimisation principle and the NEH heuristics are integrated into the partitioning scheme to search the feasible region. An efficient resource-allocation procedure is built into the sampling scheme for the FRFS problem. A large number of benchmark examples with flexible resources are tested. The test results show that the hybrid NP algorithm is more efficient than either generic NP or heuristics alone. The algorithm developed in this study is capable of selecting the most promising region for a manufacturing system with a high degree of accuracy. The algorithm is efficient and scalable for large-scale problems.

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