A novel differential evolution algorithm for no-idle permutation flow-shop scheduling problems
by Quan-Ke Pan, Ling Wang
European J. of Industrial Engineering (EJIE), Vol. 2, No. 3, 2008

Abstract: A novel Discrete Differential Evolution (DDE) algorithm is proposed in this paper for solving no-idle permutation flow-shop scheduling problems with maximum completion time (makespan) criterion. Firstly, individuals of the DDE algorithm are represented as discrete job permutations, and new mutation and crossover operators are developed. Secondly, a local search algorithm based on insert neighbourhood is embedded in the DDE algorithm to balance the exploration and exploitation and to enhance the local searching ability. In addition, we present two simple approaches to calculate makespan and a speed-up method for insert neighbourhood to improve the efficiency of the whole algorithm. Computational simulations and comparisons based on some well-known benchmarks demonstrate that the DDE algorithm is not only superior to the improved greedy and Kalczynski-Kamburowski heuristics in terms of searching quality, but also superior to the particle swarm optimisation and differential evolution algorithms according to searching quality, robustness and efficiency. [Received 9 July 2007; Revised 10 October 2007; Accepted 30 October 2007]

Online publication date: Wed, 26-Mar-2008

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the European J. of Industrial Engineering (EJIE):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com