Analysis of dispatching rules in a stochastic dynamic job shop manufacturing system with sequence-dependent setup times

Stochastic dynamic job shop scheduling problem with consideration of sequence-dependent setup times are among the most difficult classes of scheduling problems. This paper assesses the performance of nine dispatching rules in such shop from makespan, mean flow time, maximum flow time, mean tardiness, maximum tardiness, number of tardy jobs, total setups and mean setup time performance measures viewpoint. A discrete event simulation model of a stochastic dynamic job shop manufacturing system is developed for investigation purpose. Nine dispatching rules identified from literature are incorporated in the simulation model. The simulation experiments are conducted under due date tightness factor of 3, shop utilization percentage of 90 % and setup times less than processing times. Results indicate that shortest setup time (SIMSET) rule provides the best performance for mean flow time and number of tardy jobs measures. The job with similar setup and modified earliest due date (JMEDD) rule provides the best performance for makespan, maximum flow time, mean tardiness, maximum tardiness, total setups and mean setup time measures.     

Dynamic job-shop scheduling with sequence-dependent setup times: simulation modeling and analysis

This paper presents the salient aspects of a simulation-based experimental study of scheduling rules for scheduling a dynamic job shop in which the setup times are sequence-dependent. A discrete event simulation model of the job shop system is developed for the purpose of experimentation. Seven scheduling rules from the literature are incorporated in the simulation model. Five new setup-oriented scheduling rules are proposed and implemented. Simulation experiments were conducted under various experimental conditions characterized by factors such as shop load, setup time ratios, and due date tightness. The results indicate that setup-oriented rules provide better performance than ordinary rules. The difference in performance between these two groups of rules increases with the increase in shop load and setup time ratio. One of the proposed rules performs better for mean flow time and mean tardiness measures.     

New dispatching rules to minimize rejection and tardiness costs in a dynamic flexible flow shop

This paper studies a flexible flow shop system considering dynamic arrival of jobs and the ability of acceptance and rejection of new jobs. The problem objective is to determine a schedule that minimizes sum of the tardiness and rejection costs of jobs. A 0–1 mixed integer model of the problem is formulated. Since this problem class is NP-hard, four dispatching rules have been developed to solve the problem approximately. Moreover, a discrete event simulation model of the flexible flow shop system is developed for the purpose of experimentation. Four dispatching rules from the literature and four new dispatching rules proposed in this paper are incorporated in the simulation model. Simulation experiments have been conducted under various experimental conditions characterized by factors such as shop utilization level, due date tightness and number of stages in flexible flow shop. The results indicate that proposed dispatching rules provide better performance under problem assumptions.     

Efficient dispatching rules for dynamic job shop scheduling

This study attempts to provide efficient dispatching rules for dynamic job shop scheduling by combining different dispatching rules. A dispatching rule is used to select the next job to be processed from a set of jobs awaiting service. A job shop will be treated as dynamic, when conditions such as continuously arriving new jobs and deviations from current schedule need to be accommodated, and a job shop should be treated as an integrated part of a manufacturing system. The discussion includes a simulation technique which uses ARENA 4.0. software to simulate the dynamic model of a job shop under various rules and performance measures . Results of the simulation show that, for most of the performance measures, combined rules perform well. In this study, the combined rules MWKR_FIFO and TWKR_SPT do well under most conditions.     

Multicontextual dispatching rules for job shops with dynamic job arrival

The dynamic job shop problem is more challenging than the static job shop problem because dynamic job shops are disrupted by unforeseen events such as job arrivals and machine breakdowns. Each phase of a dynamic job shop problem presents a unique set of circumstances; multicontextual functions can describe the unique characteristics of a dynamic job shop at a specific time. The present work examines 11 basic dispatching rules and 33 composite rules made with multicontextual functions (MCFs) that describe machine idle time (MIT) and job waiting time (JWT). Simple procedures are presented that allow one or both of MIT and JWT to be combined with a single basic dispatching rule. This procedure produced 33 composite dispatching rules; the schedules from all 44 rules for a job shop with dynamic job arrival were compared with regard to make span and mean flow time. One composite rule, most work remaining with MCF₂, produced schedules with the shortest make spans in 21 out of 27 cases; another composite rule, most remaining operations (MRO) with MCF₃, produced schedules with the shortest mean flow times in 27 out of 27 cases. It was possible to combine JWT and MIT usefully only when the relevant dispatching rule did not depend on operation processing time; because MRO did not consider processing time, it benefitted from both JWT and MIT. Clients who demand short mean flow times might benefit from an implementation of MRO with MCF₃.     

Performance evaluation of priority dispatching rules in multi-level assembly job shops with jobs having weights for flowtime and tardiness

The problem of scheduling in dynamic shops is an important operational problem in view of its complexity and significance in terms of associated costs of scheduling. While a number of research studies have investigated the problem of scheduling in flow shops and job shops, only some attempts have been done to study the problem of scheduling in assembly job shops that manufacture multi-level jobs. The problem of scheduling in dynamic assembly job shops with jobs having weights for holding and tardiness of jobs deserves due attention. In this study an attempt has been made to propose new priority dispatching rules that minimize the performance measures related to weighted flowtime and weighted tardiness of jobs. The existing unweighted dispatching rules have been modified in view of the consideration of weights for flowtime and tardiness of jobs. The performances of the (modified) existing dispatching rules and the proposed dispatching rules are compared through exhaustive simulation experiments with the consideration of a number of different experimental settings involving due-date setting, utilization levels and types of job structures. The proposed dispatching rules are found to perform better than the existing ones in most experimental settings and with respect to a number of measures of performance.     

Machine Selection Rules in a Dynamic Job Shop

With the increasing use of multipurpose machining centres in job shops, the scheduling problem can no longer neglect multiple job-routes. Existing scheduling approaches seldom address flexibility in job routes and the aim of this paper is to demonstrate that significant improvements to the scheduling performance of dispatching rules can be achieved easily through the use of simple machine selection rules. Three such rules are proposed in this paper and their effectiveness is evaluated through a simulation study of a dynamic job shop. In addition, three dynamic conditions, namely, the tightness of due dates, the flexibility of the job routes and the reliability of the machines, are varied to ensure that the simulation is performed for significantly different job shop conditions. The results of the simulation study indicate that improvements to the performance of simple dispatching rules are significantly enhanced when used with machine selection rules.     

Dynamic flexible job shop scheduling with alternative process plans: an agent-based approach

This paper studies a flexible job shop problem considering dynamic events such as stochastic job arrivals, uncertain processing times, and unexpected machine breakdowns. Also, the considered job shop problem has routing flexibility and process flexibility. A multi-agent scheduling system has been developed for solution with good quality and robustness. A pheromone-based approach is proposed for coordination among agents. The proposed multi-agent approach is compared with five dispatching rules from literature via simulation experiments to statistical analysis. The simulation experiments are performed under various experimental settings such as shop utilization level, due date tightness, breakdown level, and mean time to repair. The results show that the proposed agent-based approach performs well under all problem settings.     

考虑工序相关性的动态Job shop调度问题启发式算法

提出一类考虑工序相关性的、工件批量到达的动态Job shop 调度问题,在对工序相关性进行了定义和数学描述的基础上,进一步建立了动态Job shop 调度问题的优化模型。设计了一种组合式调度规则RAN(FCFS,ODD),并提出了基于规则的启发式算法以及该类动态Job shop 调度问题的算例生成方法。为验证算法和比较评估调度规则的性能,对算例采用文献提出的7种调度规则和RAN(FCFS,ODD)进行了仿真调度,对调度结果的分析表明了算法的有效性和RAN(FCFS,ODD)调度规则求解所提出的动态Job Shop 调度问题的优越性能。     

A hybrid intelligent algorithm and rescheduling technique for job shop scheduling problems with disruptions

In most real manufacturing environment, schedules are usually inevitable with the presence of various unexpected disruptions. In this study, a new rescheduling technique based on a hybrid intelligent algorithm is developed for solving job shop scheduling problems with random job arrivals and machine breakdowns. According to the dynamic feature of this problem, a new initialization method is proposed to improve the performance of the hybrid intelligent algorithm, which combines the advantage of genetic algorithm and tabu search. In order to solve the difficulty of using the mathematical model to express the unexpected disruptions, a simulator is designed to generate the disruptions. The performance measures investigated respectively are: mean flow time, maximum flow time, mean tardiness, maximum tardiness, and the number of tardy jobs. Moreover, many experiments have been designed to test and evaluate the effect of different initializations in several disruption scenarios. Finally, the performance of the new rescheduling technique is compared with other rescheduling technologies in various shop floor conditions. The experimental results show that the proposed rescheduling technique is superior to other rescheduling techniques with respect to five objectives, different shop load level, and different due date tightness. The results also illustrate that the proposed rescheduling technique has a good robustness in the dynamic manufacturing environment.     

A Look-Ahead Routing Procedure for Machine Selection in a Highly Informative Manufacturing System

Many dispatching rules have been developed for the on-line control of product flow in a job shop. The introduction of a highly informative manufacturing system (HIMS) has added a new requirement to a classical job-shop control problem: the selection of machines by parts of different types. An HIMS can keep a great deal of information on the status of the system, such as information on what is scheduled in the near future with great accuracy, which can be used for shop floor control. For example, the knowledge of the time when the next parts arrive at the machines can be used for better routing. This article tests the effect of the use of this knowledge for part routing on the part's flow time and tardiness under a look-ahead routing procedure (LARP). LARP assigns a new part to a machine so that the assignment minimizes the flow time or tardiness of the current part and the next N parts arriving after the current part. A test shows that the reduction of part flow time is up to 11% and the reduction of tardiness is up to 21% for the cases with this procedure.     

Learning iterative dispatching rules for job shop scheduling with genetic programming

This study proposes a new type of dispatching rule for job shop scheduling problems. The novelty of these dispatching rules is that they can iteratively improve the schedules by utilising the information from completed schedules. While the quality of the schedule can be improved, the proposed iterative dispatching rules (IDRs) still maintain the easiness of implementation and low computational effort of the traditional dispatching rules. This feature makes them more attractive for large-scale manufacturing systems. A genetic programming (GP) method is developed in this paper to evolve IDRs for job shop scheduling problems. The results show that the proposed GP method is significantly better than the simple GP method for evolving composite dispatching rules. The evolved IDRs also show their superiority to the benchmark dispatching rules when tested on different problem instances with makespan and total weighted tardiness as the objectives. Different aspects of IDRs are also investigated and the insights from these analyses are used to enhance the performance of IDRs.     

Group shop scheduling with uncertain data and a general cost objective

In this paper, a stochastic group shop scheduling problem with a due date-related objective is studied. The group shop scheduling problem provides a general formulation including two other shop scheduling problems, the job shop and the open shop. Both job release dates and processing times are assumed to be random variables with known distributions. Moreover, earliness and tardiness of jobs are penalized at different rates. The objective is to minimize the expected maximum completion cost among all jobs. A lower bound on the objective function is proposed, and then, a hybrid approach following a simulation optimization procedure is developed to deal with the problem. An ant colony optimization algorithm is employed to construct good feasible solutions, while a discrete-event simulation model is used to estimate the performance of each constructed solution that, taking into account its lower bound, may improve the best solution found so far. The proposed approach is then evaluated through computational experiments.     

A dispatching rule-based hybrid genetic algorithm focusing on non-delay schedules for the job shop scheduling problem

Job shop scheduling is an important decision process in contemporary manufacturing systems. In this paper, we aim at the job shop scheduling problem in which the total weighted tardiness must be minimized. This objective function is relevant for the make-to-order production mode with an emphasis on customer satisfaction. In order to save the computational time, we focus on the set of non-delay schedules and use a genetic algorithm to optimize the set of dispatching rules used for schedule construction. Another advantage of this strategy is that it can be readily applied in a dynamic scheduling environment which must be investigated with simulation. Considering that the rules selected for scheduling previous operations have a direct impact on the optimal rules for scheduling subsequent operations, Bayesian networks are utilized to model the distribution of high-quality solutions in the population and to produce the new generation of individuals. In addition, some selected individuals are further improved by a special local search module based on systematic perturbations to the operation processing times. The superiority of the proposed approach is especially remarkable when the size of the scheduling problem is large.     

Assessing the impact of changing available multiple process plans of a job type on mean tardiness in job shop scheduling

This paper assesses the impact of changing the available multiple process plans of a job type in a production order on mean tardiness using simulation based genetic algorithm approach. A restart scheme as suggested in the literature is embedded into genetic algorithm in order to prevent premature convergence. An algorithm is developed to select a job type that becomes a candidate in order to change the available multiple process plans. Three case studies of varying sizes have been considered to assess the performance of job shop with an objective to minimise mean tardiness. Results indicate that by changing the available multiple process plans of a job type in a production order assists in reducing mean tardiness of a production order. In addition, selecting the best process plan among available multiple process plans on the basis of minimum total production time criterion for a job type does not yield optimal schedule.     

基于混合粒子群算法具有交货期瓶颈的作业车间调度问题

为了解决一类具有交货期瓶颈的作业车间调度问题,给出了基于订单优势的交货期满意度和交货期瓶颈资源确定方法,以工件拖期加权和最小为优化目标,建立了基于交货期满意度和瓶颈资源约束的作业车间调度模型;为了求解该调度模型,设计了一种基于模拟退火的混合粒子群算法,该算法采用随机工序表达方式进行编码,并在模拟退火算法中引入变温度参数来提高算法效率。通过随机仿真,分别采用PSO-SA、SA和PSO对所建立的调度模型进行求解,结果显示PSO-SA算法的广泛性好、求解效率高且算法的稳定性好,验证了模型和算法的有效性。     

Multi-contextual ant colony optimization of intermediate dynamic job shop problems

Myopic scheduling uses information without correct context. Because job shops with dynamic job arrival are NP-hard, real-world planners often resort to myopic dispatching rules that produce schedules with unsatisfactory makespans and mean flow times. If metaheuristic scheduling does not use context properly, it can produce unsatisfactory schedules. This study proposes a new theory of context-dependent and multi-contextual scheduling functions in dynamic job shops. Three multi-contextual ant colony (MCAC) scheduling methods, SPT_MIT_JWT, MRT_MIT, and LRT_MIT_JWT, were designed to combine several context-dependent functions so that each ant had an independent, artificially intelligent model of what might happen in the future. These three MCACs scheduled 27 dynamic job shops. Each job shop had three parameters (number of operations per job, processing time per operation, and utilization level) at one of three levels. The results were compared to schedules from dispatching rules. Schedules from MRT_MIT had the best makespans for all 27 combinations of factors. For five cases in which utilization and operations per job were both high, schedules from longest processing time had the best mean flow time; in the other 22 cases, either SPT_MIT_JWT or LRT_MIT_JWT produced the schedule with the best mean flow time. These results indicate that the new theory can be used to design multi-contextual methods that produce effective schedules.     

多目标批量生产柔性作业车间优化调度

研究批量生产中以生产周期、最大提前/最大拖后时间、生产成本以及设备利用率指标(机床总负荷和机床最大负荷)为调度目标的柔性作业车间优化调度问题。提出批量生产优化调度策略,建立多目标优化调度模型,结合多种群粒子群搜索与遗传算法的优点提出具有倾向性粒子群搜索的多种群混合算法,以提高搜索效率和搜索质量。仿真结果表明,该模型及算法较目前国内外现有方法更为有效和合理。最后,从现实生产实际出发给出多目标批量生产柔性调度算例,结果可行,可对生产实践起到一定的指导作用。     

Multicriteria dynamic scheduling by swapping of dispatching rules

For most shop floors, consideration of more than one criterion would be likely to provide more realistic scheduling of a given set of jobs. The present paper considers this aspect of scheduling and uses an algorithm proposed by the authors in their previous work for implementing several criteria simultaneously in a shop of dynamic nature. The algorithm considers several dispatching rules simultaneously for selecting a job for processing and continuously monitors the attained values of performance measures. The selection of dispatching rules is made by identifying the worst performing criterion. A rule that can improve system performance for the worst-performing criterion is selected to dispatch the part under consideration. In this paper, several case studies have been attempted to evaluate the efficiency of the algorithm. The results of the taken case studies indicate that in a dynamic system the system performance improves by changing the dispatching rules corresponding to the worst-performance criterion at the appropriate deterioration in the performance measures.     

A rolling horizon job shop rescheduling strategy in the dynamic environment

In this paper, the job shop scheduling problem in a dynamic environment is studied. Jobs arrive continuously, machines breakdown, machines are repaired and due dates of jobs may change during processing. Inspired by the rolling horizon optimisation method from predictive control technology, a periodic and event-driven rolling horizon scheduling strategy is presented and adapted to continuous processing in a changing environment. The scheduling algorithm is a hybrid of genetic algorithms and dispatching rules for solving the job shop scheduling problem with sequence-dependent set-up time and due date constraints. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy is more suitable for a dynamic job shop environment than the static scheduling strategy.