A multi-objective scatter search for a mixed-model assembly line sequencing problem

A mixed-model assembly line (MMAL) is a type of production line where a variety of product models similar to product characteristics are assembled. There is a set of criteria on which to judge sequences of product models in terms of the effective utilization of this line. In this paper, we consider three objectives, simultaneously: minimizing total utility work, total production rate variation, and total setup cost. A multi-objective sequencing problem and its mathematical formulation are described. Since this type of problem is NP-hard, a new multi-objective scatter search (MOSS) is designed for searching locally Pareto-optimal frontier for the problem. To validate the performance of the proposed algorithm, in terms of solution quality and diversity level, various test problems are made and the reliability of the proposed algorithm, based on some comparison metrics, is compared with three prominent multi-objective genetic algorithms, i.e. PS-NC GA, NSGA-II, and SPEA-II. The computational results show that the proposed MOSS outperforms the existing genetic algorithms, especially for the large-sized problems.     

Evolution of Appropriate Crossover and Mutation Operators in a Genetic Process

Traditional genetic algorithms use only one crossover and one mutation operator to generate the next generation. The chosen crossover and mutation operators are critical to the success of genetic algorithms. Different crossover or mutation operators, however, are suitable for different problems, even for different stages of the genetic process in a problem. Determining which crossover and mutation operators should be used is quite difficult and is usually done by trial-and-error. In this paper, a new genetic algorithm, the dynamic genetic algorithm (DGA), is proposed to solve the problem. The dynamic genetic algorithm simultaneously uses more than one crossover and mutation operators to generate the next generation. The crossover and mutation ratios change along with the evaluation results of the respective offspring in the next generation. By this way, we expect that the really good operators will have an increasing effect in the genetic process. Experiments are also made, with results showing the proposed algorithm performs better than the algorithms with a single crossover and a single mutation operator.     

A comparison of global optimization algorithms applied to a ride comfort optimization problem

This study presents a comparison of global optimization algorithms applied to an industrial engineering optimization problem. Three global stochastic optimization algorithms using continuous variables, i.e. the domain elimination method, the zooming method and controlled random search, have been applied to a previously studied ride comfort optimization problem. Each algorithm is executed three times and the total number of objective function evaluations needed to locate a global optimum is averaged and used as a measure of efficiency. The results show that the zooming method, with a proposed modification, is most efficient in terms of number of objective function evaluations and ability to locate the global optimum. Each design variable is thereafter given a set of discrete values and two optimization algorithms using discrete variables, i.e. a genetic algorithm and simulated annealing, are applied to the discrete ride comfort optimization problem. The results show that the genetic algorithm is more efficient than the simulated annealing algorithm for this particular optimization problem.     

A multi-objective scatter search for a dynamic cell formation problem

Cellular manufacturing system—an important application of group technology (GT)—has been recognized as an effective way to enhance the productivity in a factory. Consequently, a multi-objective dynamic cell formation problem is presented in this paper, where the total cell load variation and sum of the miscellaneous costs (machine cost, inter-cell material handling cost, and machine relocation cost) are to be minimized simultaneously. Since this type of problem is NP-hard, a new multi-objective scatter search (MOSS) is designed for finding locally Pareto-optimal frontier. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, MOSS is compared with two salient multi-objective genetic algorithms, i.e. SPEA-II and NSGA-II based on some comparison metrics and statistical approach. The computational results indicate the superiority of the proposed MOSS compared to these two genetic algorithms.     

Three self-adaptive multi-objective evolutionary algorithms for a triple-objective project scheduling problem

Finding a Pareto-optimal frontier is widely favorable among researchers to model existing conflict objectives in an optimization problem. Project scheduling is a well-known problem in which investigating a combination of goals eventuate in a more real situation. Although there are many different types of objectives based on the situation on hand, three basic objectives are the most common in the literature of the project scheduling problem. These objectives are: (i) the minimization of the makespan, (ii) the minimization of the total cost associated with the resources, and (iii) the minimization of the variability in resources usage. In this paper, three genetic-based algorithms are proposed for approximating the Pareto-optimal frontier in project scheduling problem where the above three objectives are simultaneously considered. For the above problem, three self-adaptive genetic algorithms, namely (i) A two-stage multi-population genetic algorithm (MPGA), (ii) a two-phase subpopulation genetic algorithm (TPSPGA), and (iii) a non-dominated ranked genetic algorithm (NRGA) are developed. The algorithms are tested using a set of instances built from benchmark instances existing in the literature. The performances of the algorithms are evaluated using five performance metrics proposed in the literature. Finally according to the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) the self-adaptive NRGA gained the highest preference rank, followed by the self-adaptive TPSPGA and MPGA, respectively.     

A hybrid multi-objective shuffled frog-leaping algorithm for a mixed-model assembly line sequencing problem

In this paper, a mixed-model assembly line (MMAL) sequencing problem is studied. This type of production system is used to manufacture multiple products along a single assembly line while maintaining the least possible inventories. With the growth in customers’ demand diversification, mixed-model assembly lines have gained increasing importance in the field of management. Among the available criteria used to judge a sequence in MMAL, the following three are taken into account: the minimization of total utility work, total production rate variation, and total setup cost. Due to the complexity of the problem, it is very difficult to obtain optimum solution for this kind of problems by means of traditional approaches. Therefore, a hybrid multi-objective algorithm based on shuffled frog-leaping algorithm (SFLA) and bacteria optimization (BO) are deployed. The performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm is then compared with three well-known genetic algorithms, i.e. PS-NC GA, NSGA-II, and SPEA-II. The computational results show that the proposed hybrid algorithm outperforms the existing genetic algorithms, significantly in large-sized problems.     

A hybrid multi-objective shuffled frog-leaping algorithm for a mixed-model assembly line sequencing problem

In this paper, a mixed-model assembly line (MMAL) sequencing problem is studied. This type of production system is used to manufacture multiple products along a single assembly line while maintaining the least possible inventories. With the growth in customers’ demand diversification, mixed-model assembly lines have gained increasing importance in the field of management. Among the available criteria used to judge a sequence in MMAL, the following three are taken into account: the minimization of total utility work, total production rate variation, and total setup cost. Due to the complexity of the problem, it is very difficult to obtain optimum solution for this kind of problems by means of traditional approaches. Therefore, a hybrid multi-objective algorithm based on shuffled frog-leaping algorithm (SFLA) and bacteria optimization (BO) are deployed. The performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm is then compared with three well-known genetic algorithms, i.e. PS-NC GA, NSGA-II, and SPEA-II. The computational results show that the proposed hybrid algorithm outperforms the existing genetic algorithms, significantly in large-sized problems.     

A genetic local search algorithm for minimizing total weighted tardiness in the job-shop scheduling problem

This paper considers the job-shop problem with release dates and due dates, with the objective of minimizing the total weighted tardiness. A genetic algorithm is combined with an iterated local search that uses a longest path approach on a disjunctive graph model. A design of experiments approach is employed to calibrate the parameters and operators of the algorithm. Previous studies on genetic algorithms for the job-shop problem point out that these algorithms are highly depended on the way the chromosomes are decoded. In this paper, we show that the efficiency of genetic algorithms does no longer depend on the schedule builder when an iterated local search is used. Computational experiments carried out on instances of the literature show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Swarm-Based Nature-Inspired Algorithm and Genetic Algorithms for Optimizing a Sun Tracker Trajectory

Over the last 10 years, the popularity of solar panels for catching solar energy has reduced development and manufacturing costs. Nevertheless, costs per watt are still high when compared to other less-clean energy sources such as wind energy. Therefore, the goal of the sun tracker is to maximize the energy generation of solar cells, thus giving a competitive advantage to solar energy. However, finding the optimal position is a very complex task and different algorithms such as genetic algorithms or swarm-based optimization algorithms have been used to improve the results. This article shows the design and implementation of two optimal sun tracker algorithms. The first method presented is genetic algorithms, which allow finding the position of the sun tracker based on an offline solution. When genetic algorithms find the solution offline, the results can be programmed in a simple lookup table. This approximation decreases the computational cost, and it is effective for geographical climes where conditions are constant. However, there are places with nonconstant climate conditions that need online optization algorithms. In this case, a newly developed intelligent water drop algorithm is proposed for running an online solution. Both methods were designed for the sun tracker problem and were implemented. The power and energy analytics show that the algorithms increase the efficiency of the sun tracker, compared to a static solar cell, by at least 40% in some cases. The sun tracker presented gives an excellent solution for obtaining energy from the sun during diverse weather conditions. This work also introduces a novel derivation of the intelligent water drop algorithm for sun trackers based on a nonconventional trajectory and conventional genetic algorithms adjusted for sun tracker needs. The experimental results are shown in order to validate the methodologies proposed.     

A new particle swarm algorithm for a multi-objective mixed-model assembly line sequencing problem

The sequencing of products for mixed-model assembly line in Just-in-Time manufacturing systems is sometimes based on multiple criteria. In this paper, three major goals are to be simultaneously minimized: total utility work, total production rate variation, and total setup cost. A multi-objective sequencing problem and its mathematical formulation are described. Due to the NP-hardness of the problem, a new multi-objective particle swarm (MOPS) is designed to search locally Pareto-optimal frontier for the problem. To validate the performance of the proposed algorithm, various test problems are solved and the reliability of the proposed algorithm, based on some comparison metrics, is compared with three distinguished multi-objective genetic algorithms (MOGAs), i.e. PS-NC GA, NSGA-II, and SPEA-II. Comparison shows that MOPS provides superior results to MOGAs.     

Genetic algorithms for the optimal common due date assignment and the optimal scheduling policy in parallel machine earliness/tardiness scheduling problems

Earliness/tardiness scheduling problems with undetermined common due date which have wide application background in textile industry, mechanical industry, electronic industry and so on, are very important in the research fields such as industry engineering and CIMS. In this paper, a kind of genetic algorithm based on sectional code for minimizing the total cost of assignment of due date, earliness and tardiness in this kind of scheduling problem is proposed to determine the optimal common due date and the optimal scheduling policy for determining the job number and their processing order on each machine. Also, simulated annealing mechanism and the iterative heuristic fine-tuning operator are introduced into the genetic algorithm so as to construct three kinds of hybrid genetic algorithms with good performance. Numerical computational results focusing on the identical parallel machine scheduling problem and the general parallel machine scheduling problem shows that these algorithms outperform heuristic procedures, and fit for larger scale parallel machine earliness/tardiness scheduling problem. Moreover, with practical application data from one of the largest cotton colored weaving enterprises in China, numerical computational results show that these genetic algorithms are effective and robust, and that especially the performance of the hybrid genetic algorithm based on simulated annealing and the iterative heuristic fine-tuning operator is the best among them.     

Developing a multi-objective,multi-item inventory model and three algorithms for its solution

We develop a multi-objective model in a multi-product inventory system.The proposed model is a joint replenishment problem(JRP) that has two objective functions.The first one is minimization of total ordering and inventory holding costs,which is the same objective function as the classic JRP.To increase the applicability of the proposed model,we suppose that transportation cost is independent of time,is not a part of holding cost,and is calculated based on the maximum of stored inventory,as is the case in many real inventory problems.Thus,the second objective function is minimization of total transportation cost.To solve this problem three efficient algorithms are proposed.First,the RAND algorithm,called the best heuristic algorithm for solving the JRP,is modified to be applicable for the proposed problem.A multi-objective genetic algorithm(MOGA) is developed as the second algorithm to solve the problem.Finally,the model is solved by a new algorithm that is a combination of the RAND algorithm and MOGA.The performances of these algorithms are then compared with those of the previous approaches and with each other,and the findings imply their ability in finding Pareto optimal solutions to 3200 randomly produced problems.     

A hybridization of genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic for the single-machine scheduling with flexible maintenance problem under human resource constraints

This work focuses on the problem of scheduling jobs on a single machine that requires flexible maintenance under human resource competence and availability constraints. To solve the problem we developed two fuzzy genetic algorithms that are based on respectively the sequential and total scheduling strategies. The one respecting the sequential strategy consists in two phases. In the first phase, the integrated production and maintenance schedules are generated. In the second one, the human resources are assigned to maintenance activities. The second algorithm respecting a total strategy consists in generating the integrated production and maintenance schedules that explicitly satisfy the human resource constraints. In regard to these two different strategies, we studied then two integrated fuzzy genetic algorithms that use the fuzzy logic framework to deal with the uncertain nature of both production and maintenance data. The proposed genetic algorithms have been implemented and applied to non-standard test problems which integrate production, maintenance and human resource data. The experimental results show that the consideration of human resource constraints and uncertainties allows to get more realistic and applicable solutions. Moreover, the comparison between the two proposed algorithms shows that the one based on the total strategy outperforms the one based on the sequential strategy regarding the objective functions’ optimization. However, this latter is better in terms of computational times.     

Genetic algorithms for task scheduling problem

The scheduling and mapping of the precedence-constrained task graph to processors is considered to be the most crucial NP-complete problem in parallel and distributed computing systems. Several genetic algorithms have been developed to solve this problem. A common feature in most of them has been the use of chromosomal representation for a schedule. However, these algorithms are monolithic, as they attempt to scan the entire solution space without considering how to reduce the complexity of the optimization process. In this paper, two genetic algorithms have been developed and implemented. Our developed algorithms are genetic algorithms with some heuristic principles that have been added to improve the performance. According to the first developed genetic algorithm, two fitness functions have been applied one after the other. The first fitness function is concerned with minimizing the total execution time (schedule length), and the second one is concerned with the load balance satisfaction. The second developed genetic algorithm is based on a task duplication technique to overcome the communication overhead. Our proposed algorithms have been implemented and evaluated using benchmarks. According to the evolved results, it has been found that our algorithms always outperform the traditional algorithms.     

Two new meta-heuristics for a bi-objective supply chain scheduling problem in flow-shop environment

In this study, an integrated multi-objective production-distribution flow-shop scheduling problem will be taken into consideration with respect to two objective functions. The first objective function aims to minimize total weighted tardiness and make-span and the second objective function aims to minimize the summation of total weighted earliness, total weighted number of tardy jobs, inventory costs and total delivery costs. Firstly, a mathematical model is proposed for this problem. After that, two new meta-heuristic algorithms are developed in order to solve the problem. The first algorithm (HCMOPSO), is a multi-objective particle swarm optimization combined with a heuristic mutation operator, Gaussian membership function and a chaotic sequence and the second algorithm (HBNSGA-II), is a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II with a heuristic criterion for generation of initial population and a heuristic crossover operator. The proposed HCMOPSO and HBNSGA-II are tested and compared with a Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), a Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) and two state-of-the-art algorithms from recent researches, by means of several comparing criteria. The computational experiments demonstrate the outperformance of the proposed HCMOPSO and HBNSGA-II.     

No-wait two stage hybrid flow shop scheduling with genetic and adaptive imperialist competitive algorithms

This article studies a no-wait two-stage flexible flow shop scheduling problem with setup times aiming to minimize the total completion time. The problem is solved using an adaptive imperialist competitive algorithm (AICA) and genetic algorithm (GA). To test the performance of the proposed AICA and GA, the algorithms are compared with ant colony optimisation, known as an effective algorithm in the literature. The performance of the algorithms are evaluated by solving both small and large-scale problems. Their performance is evaluated in terms of relative percentage deviation. Finally the results of the study are discussed and conclusions and potential areas for further study are highlighted.     

A hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm for optimization of crew scheduling

Crew scheduling problem is the problem of assigning crew members to the flights so that total cost is minimized while regulatory and legal restrictions are satisfied. The crew scheduling is an NP-hard constrained combinatorial optimization problem and hence, it cannot be exactly solved in a reasonable computational time. This paper presents a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm synchronized with a local search heuristic for solving the crew scheduling problem. Recent studies use genetic algorithm (GA) or ant colony optimization (ACO) to solve large scale crew scheduling problems. Furthermore, two other hybrid algorithms based on GA and ACO algorithms have been developed to solve the problem. Computational results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed hybrid PSO algorithm over other algorithms.     

The economic lot scheduling problem in limited-buffer flexible flow shops: Mathematical models and a discrete fruit fly algorithm

This paper considers the lot scheduling problem in the flexible flow shop with limited intermediate buffers to minimize total cost which includes the inventory holding and setup costs. The single available mathematical model by Akrami et al. (2006) for this problem suffers from not only being non-linear but also high size-complexity. In this paper, two new mixed integer linear programming models are developed for the problem. Moreover, a fruit fly optimization algorithm is developed to effectively solve the large problems. For model’s evaluation, this paper experimentally compares the proposed models with the available model. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is also evaluated by comparing with two well-known algorithms (tabu search and genetic algorithm) in the literature and adaption of three recent algorithms for the flexible flow shop problem. All the results and analyses show the high performance of the proposed mathematical models as well as fruit fly optimization algorithm.     

Bi-objective scheduling for reentrant hybrid flow shop using Pareto genetic algorithm

This paper deals with a scheduling problem for reentrant hybrid flowshop with serial stages where each stage consists of identical parallel machines. In a reentrant flowshop, a job may revisit any stage several times. Local-search based Pareto genetic algorithms with Minkowski distance-based crossover operator is proposed to approximate the Pareto optimal solutions for the minimization of makespan and total tardiness in a reentrant hybrid flowshop. The Pareto genetic algorithms are compared with existing multi-objective genetic algorithm, NSGA-II in terms of the convergence to optimal solution, the diversity of solution and the dominance of solution. Experimental results show that the proposed crossover operator and local search are effective and the proposed algorithm outperforms NSGA-II by statistical analysis.     

A genetic algorithm for solving the fixed-charge transportation model: Two-stage problem

Transportation of goods in a supply chain from plants to customers through distribution centers (DCs) is modeled as a two-stage distribution problem in the literature. In this paper we propose genetic algorithms to solve a two-stage transportation problem with two different scenarios. The first scenario considers the per-unit transportation cost and the fixed cost associated with a route, coupled with unlimited capacity at every DC. The second scenario considers the opening cost of a distribution center, per-unit transportation cost from a given plant to a given DC and the per-unit transportation cost from the DC to a customer. Subsequently, an attempt is made to represent the two-stage fixed-charge transportation problem (Scenario-1) as a single-stage fixed-charge transportation problem and solve the resulting problem using our genetic algorithm. Many benchmark problem instances are solved using the proposed genetic algorithms and performances of these algorithms are compared with the respective best existing algorithms for the two scenarios. The results from computational experiments show that the proposed algorithms yield better solutions than the respective best existing algorithms for the two scenarios under consideration.