Hybrid artificial immune system and extremal optimization algorithm for permutation flowshop scheduling problem

Abstract

The permutation flowshop scheduling problem (PFSP) is one of the most well-known and well-studied production scheduling problems with strong industrial background. This paper presents a new hybrid optimization algorithm which combines the strong global search ability of artificial immune system (AIS) with a strong local search ability of extremal optimization (EO) algorithm. The proposed algorithm is applied to a set of benchmark problems with a makespan criterion. Performance of the algorithm is evaluated. Comparison results indicate that this new method is an effective and competitive approach to the PFSP.