An empirical study of bio manufacturing for the scheduling of hepatitis in vitro diagnostic device with constrained process time window

Abstract

Abstract This study developed a multi-subpopulation hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) for solving the hepatitis in vitro diagnostic device manufacturing scheduling problem (HIVDSP) through the examination of practical constraints in real situations. A specific characteristic of biotechnology manufacturing is the constrained process time window that defines the minimal and maximal times for specific processes; however, few studies have addressed the HIVDSP. This developed algorithm applied a fuzzy logic controller for solving the HIVDSP effectively and efficiently. An empirical study was conducted with realistic data to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with existing dispatching rules under various demand scenarios. Furthermore, this study investigated the flexibility of the proposed approach for coping with future increases in product demand and manufacturing capacity expansion. The results indicate that the proposed approach can obtain a shorter makespan than other metaheuristics and dispatching approaches. The developed approach was implemented in the case company, yielding results that indicate its practical viability.