Hybrid flowshop scheduling with machine and resource-dependent processing times

Most of research in production scheduling is concerned with the optimization of a single criterion. However the analysis of the performance of a schedule often involves more than one aspect and therefore requires a multi-objective treatment. In this research, with combination of two multiple objective decision-making methods, min-max and weighted techniques, a new solution presentation method and a robust hybrid metaheuristic, we solved sequence-dependent setup time hybrid flowshop scheduling problems. In this paper for reflecting real-world situation adequately, we assume the processing time of each job depends on the speed of machine and amount of resource allocated to each machine at the stage which is processed on it. In formulation of min-max type, the decision-maker can have the flexibility of mixed use of weights and distance parameter in expressing desired improvement on produced Pareto optimal solutions. To minimize makespan and total resource allocation costs, the proposed hybrid approach is robust, fast, and simply structured, and comprises two components: genetic algorithm and a variable neighborhood search. The comparison shows the proposal to be very efficient for different structure instances. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.