An Iterated Greedy Algorithm for Solving the Blocking Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Total Flow Time Criteria

International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research
December 2012, Volume 23, Number 4

pp. 301-308
ISSN: 2008-4889

http://IJIEPR.iust.ac.ir/

An Iterated Greedy Algorithm for Solving the Blocking Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Total Flow Time Criteria
D. Khorasanian & G. Moslehi*
Danial Khorasanian is an M.S. Student of Department of Industrial Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran Ghasem Moslehi is a Professor of Department of Industrial Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

KEYWORDS
Constructive heuristic, Iterated greedy algorithm, Blocking flow shop, Total flow time

ABSTRACT
In this paper, we propose an iterated greedy algorithm for solving the blocking flow shop scheduling problem with total flow time minimization objective. The steps of this algorithm are designed very efficient. For generating an initial solution, we develop an efficient constructive heuristic by modifying the best known NEH algorithm. Effectiveness of the proposed iterated greedy algorithm is tested on the Taillard 's instances. Computational results show the high efficiency of this algorithm with comparison state-of-the-art algorithms. We report new best solutions for 88 instances of 120 Taillard 's instances.
© 2012 IUST Publication, IJIEPR, Vol. 23, No. 4, All Rights Reserved.

1. Introduction
The flow shop scheduling problem is one of the most popular machine scheduling problems with extensive engineering relevance, representing nearly a quarter of manufacturing systems, assembly lines and information service facilities in use nowadays [1]. In the general flow shop model, it is assumed that the buffers have unlimited capacity. However, in many real flow shop environments, the buffers may have limited capacity due to technological requirements or process characteristics [2]. A special case of these environments is the flow shop with zero capacity buffers that the related problem is known as the

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