Scheduling unrelated parallel machines with set-up consideration applying GA and response surface method

Abstract

This paper presents a Genetic Algorithm (GA) combining with response surface method to solve Unrelated Parallel Machine Scheduling Problems (UPMSP) with set-up times. It focuses on different service times to consider the set-up times for scheduling problems resulted from different type of orders so as to find out the minimal total completion time. Initially the GA is applied to determine processing sequence of orders on unrelated parallel machines. Results have shown that the approach can quickly discover the approximate optimal solution. In view of the fact that parameter setting makes a significant impact on many algorithms, this paper combines experimental design with response surface method to determine related parameter level combination for GAs. The results show that suchlike combination resolved by response surface method achieve better quality and fewer times of experiment, thus enhancing resolved quality for GAs.