An iterated greedy algorithm for the parallel blocking flow shop scheduling problem and sequence-dependent setup times

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of scheduling jobs in a parallel flow shop configuration under the blocking constraint, in which the setup time of machines depends not only on the job to be processed but also on the previously processed one, i.e., there are sequence-dependent setup times. The performance analysis of several iterated greedy algorithms with different initial solution procedures and local searches lets us define an efficient algorithm to minimize the maximum job completion time. Moreover, the computational evaluation showed the efficiency of searching in different neighborhood structures and noted the significant influence of the initial solution. However, contrary to other scheduling problems, starting with a high quality solution does not guarantee better performance of the algorithm.