Flexible open-shop problem for minimizing weighted total completion time

In this article, scheduling flexible open shops with identical machines in each station is studied. A new mathematical model is offered to describe the overall performance of the system. Since the problem enjoys an NP-hard complexity structure, we used two distinct metaheuristic methods to achieve acceptable solutions for minimizing weighted total completion time as the objective function. The first method is customary memetic algorithm (MA). The second one, MPA, is a modified version of memetic algorithm in which the new permutating operation is replaced with the mutation. Furthermore, some predefined feasible solutions were imposed in the initial population of both MA and MPA. According to the results, the latter action caused a remarkable improvement in the performance of algorithms.

Automated summary

This article studies the scheduling problem in flexible open shops with identical machines in each station and proposes a new mathematical model. Due to the NP-hard complexity structure, two distinct metaheuristic methods, including the customary memetic algorithm (MA) and the modified version MPA, were used to find acceptable solutions for minimizing weighted total completion time. By imposing predefined feasible solutions in the initial population, significant improvement in algorithm performance was observed.