An Optimization-oriented Simulation-based Job Shop Scheduling Method with Four Parameters Using Pattern Search.

Abstract

Aiming at the elimination of tardy jobs in a job shop production schedule, an optimization-oriented simulation-based scheduling (OSBS) method incorporating capacity adjustment function is proposed. In order to determine the pertinent additional capacities and to control job allocations simultaneously the proposed method incorporates the parameter-space search improvement (PSSI) method into the scheduling procedure. In previous papers, we have introduced four parameters; two of them are used to control the upper limit to the additional capacity and the balance of the capacity distribution among machines, while the others are used to control the job allocation procedure. We found that a ‘direct' optimization procedure which uses the enumeration method produces a best solution with practical significance, but it takes too much computation time for practical use. In this paper, we propose a new method which adopts a pattern search method in the schedule generation procedure to obtain an approximate optimal solution. It is found that the computation time becomes short enough for a practical use. Moreover, the extension of the parameter domain yields an approximate optimal solution which is better than the best solution obtained by the ‘direct' optimization.