Multi-objective no-wait hybrid flowshop scheduling problem with transportation times

Abstract

This paper studies multi-objective no-wait hybrid flowshop scheduling problems to minimise both makespan and total tardiness. Furthermore, we consider transportation times between machines. This transportation time can be either job-dependent or job-independent. We consider that all transportations are job-independent; and transportations between two machines have to be done by one transporter. This paper presents a new multi-objective electromagnetism algorithm (MOEA). Electromagnetism algorithm is known as a flexible and effective population-based algorithm utilising an attraction/repulsion mechanism to move the particles towards optimality. The algorithm is carefully evaluated for its performance against two available algorithms by means of multi-objective performance measures and statistical tools. The results show that the proposed solution method outperforms the others.