Algorithm for Assembly Flowshops

Abstract

Assembly flowshop with setup times is one of the newset production scheduling problems. In this problem, parts in the first stage that is a flow shop system are produced. Then, in the second stage, they are assembled. The objective is to sequence the parts production and assembly to minimize makespan. There is not an effective mathematical model for this problem. This paper first reviews the available model and then proposes a mixed integer linear programming model. To solve the model, it proposes two metaheuristics, imperialist competitive and genetic algorithms. Finally, the performance of the model and algorithms are evaluated, and the results show that imperialist competitive algorithm performs well.

Keywords

• mixed integer linear programming
• assembly flow shops
• setup times
• imperialist competitive algorithm
• genetic algorithm