A hybrid multi-objective GA for simultaneous scheduling of machines and AGVs in FMS

A carefully designed and efficiently managed material handling system plays an important role in planning and operation of a flexible manufacturing system. Most of the researchers have addressed machine and vehicle scheduling as two independent problems and most of the research has been emphasized only on single objective optimization. Multiobjective problems in scheduling with conflicting objectives are more complex and combinatorial in nature and hardly have a unique solution. This paper addresses multiobjective scheduling problems in a flexible manufacturing environment using evolutionary algorithms. In this paper the authors made an attempt to consider simultaneously the machine and vehicle scheduling aspects in an FMS and addressed the combined problem for the minimization of makespan, mean flow time and mean tardiness objectives.