Title: Comparison of different tabu search operators on a highly constrained industrial problem

Authors: David Duvivier, Olivier Roux, Arnauld Hanset

Addresses: Univ Lille Nord de France, F-59000 Lille, France; LIL, Universite du Littoral Cote d'Opale, 50 Rue Ferdinand Buisson BP 719, 62228 Calais Cedex, France. ' Louvain School of Management and FUCaM, 151 Chaussee de Binche, 7000 Mons, Belgium. ' Louvain School of Management and FUCaM, 151 Chaussee de Binche, 7000 Mons, Belgium

Abstract: In the context of limited time decision making, this paper presents the results of a tabu search method applied to a discrete-continuous highly constrained industrial scheduling problem. The aim of this work is to generate the most suitable scheduling strategy according to the decision makers| preferences. In order to achieve this goal, a framework has been implemented to schedule the products thanks to several optimisation and simulation methods. The schedules are iteratively enhanced via a hybrid method composed of a meta-heuristic and a simulation model. This paper describes more precisely the results obtained with several operators embedded in a tabu search method. On the basis of several performance criteria, the presented study compares and ranks several scheduling strategies via a lexicographical sort.

Keywords: simulation; production systems; metaheuristics; hybrid methods; performance; limited time decision making; tabu search; industrial scheduling; optimisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2009.031250

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2009 Vol.1 No.4, pp.363 - 379

Published online: 27 Jan 2010 *

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