Abstract
This paper presents an enhanced heuristic for minimizing the makespan of the flow shop scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times. The procedure transforms an instance of the problem into an instance of the traveling salesman problem by introducing a cost function that penalizes for both large setup times and bad fitness of schedule. This hybrid cost function is an improvement over earlier approaches that penalized for setup times only, ignoring the flow shop aspect of the problem. To establish good parameter values, each component of the heuristic was evaluated computationally over a wide range of problem instances. In the testing stage, an experimental comparison with a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure revealed the conditions and data attributes where the proposed procedure works best.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Find the latest articles, discoveries, and news in related topics.References
Allahverdi, A., J. N.D. Gupta, and T. Aldowaisan. (1998). “A Review of Scheduling Research Involving Setup Considerations,” Omega, forthcoming.
Conover, W. (1980). Practical Nonparametric Statistics. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Feo, T. A., J. F. Bard, and K. Venkatraman. (1991). “A GRASP for a Difficult Single Machine Scheduling Problem,” Computers & Operations Research 18(8), 635–643.
Feo, T. A., and M. G. C. Resende. (1995). “Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedures,” Journal of Global Optimization 6, 109–133.
Laguna, M., and J. L. González-Velarde. (1991). “A Search Heuristic for Just-in-Time Scheduling in Parallel Machines,” Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing 2, 253–260.
Pinedo, M. (1995). Scheduling: Theory, Algorithms, and Systems. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Ríos-Mercado, R. Z. (1997). Optimization of the Flowshop Scheduling Problem with Setup Times. PhD thesis, University of Texas, Austin.
Ríos-Mercado, R. Z., and J. F. Bard. (1998). “A Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for the Permutation Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times,” IIE Transactions, Forthcoming.
Ríos-Mercado, R. Z., and J. F. Bard. (1998). “Computational Experience with a Branch-and-Cut Algorithm for Flowshop Scheduling with Setups,” Computers & Operations Research 25(5), 351–366.
Ríos-Mercado, R. Z., and J. F. Bard. (1998). “Heuristics for the Flow Line Problem with Setup Costs,” European Journal of Operational Research 110(1), 76–98.
Simons Jr., J. V. (1992). “Heuristics in Flow Shop Scheduling with Sequence Dependent Set-up Times,” Omega 20(2), 215–225.
Srikar, B. N., and S. Ghosh. (1986). “A MILP Model for the in-Job, im-Stage Flowshop with Sequence Dependent Set-up Times,” International Journal of Production Research 24(6), 1459–1474.
Stafford, E. F., and F. T. Tseng. (1990). “On the Srikar-Ghosh MILP Model for the N £ M SDST Flowshop Problem,” International Journal of Production Research 28(10), 1817–1830.
Stinson, J. P., and A.W. Smith. (1982). “AHeuristic Programming Procedure for Sequencing the Static Flowshop,” International Journal of Production Research 20(6), 753–764.
Taillard, E. (1990). “Some Efficient Heuristic Methods for the FlowShop Sequencing Problem,” European Journal of Operational Research 47(1), 65–74.
Widmer, M., and A. Hertz. (1989). “A New Heuristic Method for the Flow Shop Sequencing Problem,” European Journal of Operational Research 41(2), 186–193.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ríos-Mercado, R.Z., Bard, J.F. An Enhanced TSP-Based Heuristic for Makespan Minimization in a Flow Shop with Setup Times. Journal of Heuristics 5, 53–70 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009691028143
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009691028143