Research on dyeing workshop scheduling methods for knitted fabric production based on a multi-objective hybrid genetic algorithm

Abstract

As the most important core process in the dyeing and finishing workshop of knitting companies, the dyeing process has the characteristics of multi-variety, small-batch, parallel machine processing of multiple types, and high cost in equipment cleaning, which render the dyeing scheduling problem a bottleneck in the production management of a dyeing and finishing workshop. In this paper, the dyeing process scheduling problem in dyeing and finishing workshops is described and abstracted, and an optimized mathematical model of dyeing scheduling is constructed with the goal of minimizing the delay cost and switching cost. Constraints such as multiple types of equipment, equipment capacity, weights of orders and equipment cleaning time are considered. For the sub-problem of equipment scheduling in the dyeing scheduling problem, a heuristic rule that considers equipment utilization and order delay is proposed. For the sub-problem of order sorting of the equipment in the dyeing scheduling problem, a hybrid genetic algorithm with a variable neighbourhood search strategy has been designed to optimize sorting. The algorithm proposed in this paper has been demonstrated via case simulation to be effective in solving the scheduling problem in dyeing and finishing workshops.