Sequencing in an assembly line with blocking to minimize cycle time
Operations Research
Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness
Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness
Minimizing Cycle Time in a Blocking Flowshop
Operations Research
A novel hybrid discrete differential evolution algorithm for blocking flow shop scheduling problems
Computers and Operations Research
Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal
Optimizing blocking flow shop scheduling problem with total completion time criterion
Computers and Operations Research
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This paper proposes a three-phase algorithm (TPA) for the flowshop scheduling problem with blocking (BFSP) to minimize makespan. In the first phase, the blocking nature of BFSP is exploited to develop a priority rule that creates a sequence of jobs. Using this as the initial sequence and a variant of the NEH-insert procedure, the second phase generates an approximate solution to the problem. Then, utilizing a modified simulated annealing algorithm incorporated with a local search procedure, the schedule generated in the second phase is improved in the third phase. A pruning procedure that helps evaluate most solutions without calculating their complete makespan values is introduced in the local search to further reduce the computational time needed to solve the problem. Results of the computational experiments with Taillard's benchmark problem instances show that the proposed TPA algorithm is relatively more effective and efficient in minimizing makespan for the BFSP than the state-of-the-art procedures. Utilizing these results, 53 out of 60 new tighter upper bounds have been found for large-sized Taillard's benchmark problem instances.