A genetic algorithm for robotic assembly line balancing

Flexibility and automation in assembly lines can be achieved by the use of robots. The robotic assembly line balancing (RALB) problem is defined for robotic assembly line, where different robots may be assigned to the assembly tasks, and each robot needs different assembly times to perform a given task, because of its capabilities and specialization. The solution to the RALB problem includes an attempt for optimal assignment of robots to line stations and a balanced distribution of work between different stations. It aims at maximizing the production rate of the line. A genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find a solution to this problem. Two different procedures for adapting the GA to the RALB problem, by assigning robots with different capabilities to workstations are introduced: a recursive assignment procedure and a consecutive assignment procedure. The results of the GA are improved by a local optimization (hill climbing) work-piece exchange procedure. Tests conducted on a set of randomly generated problems, show that the Consecutive Assignment procedure achieves, in general, better solution quality (measured by average cycle time). Further tests are conducted to determine the best combination of parameters for the GA procedure. Comparison of the GA algorithm results with a truncated Branch and Bound algorithm for the RALB problem, demonstrates that the GA gives consistently better results.     

DCA for solving the scheduling of lifting vehicle in an automated port container terminal

The container was introduced as a universal carrier for various goods in the 1960s and soon became a standard worldwide transportation. The competitiveness of a container seaport is marked by different success factors, particularly the time in port for ships. Operational problems of container terminals is divided into several problems, such as assignment of vessels, loading/unloading and storage of the containers, quay cranes scheduling cite, planning yard cranes cite and assignment of storage containers cite. In this work, the study will focus on piloting yard trucks. Two different types of vehicles can be used, namely automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and lifting vehicles (LVs). An AGV receives a container from a quay crane and transports containers over fixed path. LVs are capable of lifting a container from the ground by itself. The model that we consider is formulated as a mixed integer programming problem, and the difficulty arises when the number of binary variables increases. There are a lot of algorithms designed for mixed integer programming problem such as Branch and Bound method, cutting plane algorithm, . . . By using an exact penalty technique we treat this problem as a DC program in the context of continuous optimization. Further, we combine the DCA with the classical Branch and Bound method for finding global solutions.     

Flexible job shop scheduling with overlapping in operations

In this paper, flexible job shop scheduling problem with a new approach, overlapping in operations, is discussed. In many flexible job shops, a customer demand can be released more than one for each job, where demand determines the quantity of each finished job ordered by a customer. In these models each job has a demand more than one. This assumption is an important and practical issue for many flexible job shops such as petrochemical industries. To consider this assumption, we use a new approach, named overlapping in operations. In this approach, embedded operations of each job can be performed due to overlap considerations in which each operation may be overlapped with the others because of its nature. The overlapping is limited by structural constraints, such as the dimensions of the box to be packed or the capacity of the container used to move the pieces from one machine to the next. Since this problem is well known as NP-Hard class, a hierarchical approach used simulated annealing algorithm is developed to solve large problem instances. Moreover, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) method is presented. To evaluate the validity of the proposed SA algorithm, the results are compared with the optimal solution obtained with the traditional optimization technique (The Branch and Bound method). The computational results validate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Also the computational results show that the overlapping considering can improve the makespan and machines utilization measures. So the proposed algorithm can be applied easily in real factory conditions and for the large size problems and it should thus be useful to both practitioners and researchers.     

An improvement in the Gavish-Shlifer algorithm for a class of transportation scheduling problems

In [2] Gavish and Shlifer present an algorithm for solving a class of transportation scheduling problems which includes the delivery problem, the school bus problem, and others. Their algorithm is based on the ‘savings method’ of Clarke and Wright. By solving a sequence of assignment problems, upper bounds may be generated for the original problem and the optimal solution determined through a branch and bound procedure. However, for certain problems the CPU time becomes excessive. In this paper we show that the bounds may be improved by solving a related maximum matching problem instead of the assignment problem. The result is that fewer branches need to be investigated. Computational results are presented indicating that considerably less CPU time is needed to solve problems using this approach than with the approach of Gavish and Shlifer.     

Discrete and geometric Branch and Bound algorithms for?medical image registration

Aiming at the development of an exact solution method for registration problems, we present two different Branch & Bound algorithms for a mixed integer programming formulation of the problem. The first B&B algorithm branches on binary assignment variables and makes use of an optimality condition that is derived from a graph matching formulation. The second, geometric B&B algorithm applies a geometric branching strategy on continuous transformation variables. The two approaches are compared for synthetic test examples as well as for 2-dimensional medical data. The results show that medium sized problem instances can be solved to global optimality in a reasonable amount of time.     

Single machine scheduling to minimize weighted sum of completion times with secondary criterion — A branch and bound approach

Burns presented a counter example to Smith's algorithm and developed a new algorithm which also provides a local optimal for the problem. A Branch and Bound algorithm is presented to produce the global optimal schedule by using elimination rules obtainable from theorems. These rules eliminate branching to a significant extent. Numerical examples illustrate the solution.     

An Improved Genetic Algorithm for the Distributed and Flexible Job-shop Scheduling problem

The Distributed and Flexible Job-shop Scheduling problem (DFJS) considers the scheduling of distributed manufacturing environments, where jobs are processed by a system of several Flexible Manufacturing Units (FMUs). Distributed scheduling problems deal with the assignment of jobs to FMUs and with determining the scheduling of each FMU, in terms of assignment of each job operation to one of the machines able to work it (job-routing flexibility) and sequence of operations on each machine. The objective is to minimize the global makespan over all the FMUs. This paper proposes an Improved Genetic Algorithm to solve the Distributed and Flexible Job-shop Scheduling problem. With respect to the solution representation for non-distributed job-shop scheduling, gene encoding is extended to include information on job-to-FMU assignment, and a greedy decoding procedure exploits flexibility and determines the job routings. Besides traditional crossover and mutation operators, a new local search based operator is used to improve available solutions by refining the most promising individuals of each generation. The proposed approach has been compared with other algorithms for distributed scheduling and evaluated with satisfactory results on a large set of distributed-and-flexible scheduling problems derived from classical job-shop scheduling benchmarks.     

Minimizing the weighted number of tardy jobs with due date assignment and capacity-constrained deliveries for multiple customers in supply chains

In this paper, an integrated due date assignment and production and batch delivery scheduling problem for make-to-order production system and multiple customers is addressed. Consider a supply chain scheduling problem in which n orders (jobs) have to be scheduled on a single machine and delivered to K customers or to other machines for further processing in batches. A common due date is assigned to all the jobs of each customer and the number of jobs in delivery batches is constrained by the batch size. The objective is to minimize the sum of the total weighted number of tardy jobs, the total due date assignment costs and the total batch delivery costs. The problem is NP-hard. We formulate the problem as an Integer Programming (IP) model. Also, in this paper, a Heuristic Algorithm (HA) and a Branch and Bound (B&B) method for solving this problem are presented. Computational tests are used to demonstrate the efficiency of the developed methods.     

A Branch & Cut algorithm for a four-index assignment problem

In this paper, we examine the orthogonal Latin squares (OLS) problem from an integer programming perspective. The OLS problem has a long history and its significance arises from both theoretical aspects and practical applications. The problem is formulated as a four-index assignment problem whose solutions correspond to OLS. This relationship is exploited by various routines (preliminary variable fixing, branching, etc) of the Branch & Cut algorithm we present. Clique, odd-hole and antiweb inequalities implement the ‘Cut’ component of the algorithm. For each cut type a polynomial-time separation algorithm is implemented. Extensive computational analysis examines multiple aspects concerning the design of our algorithm. The results illustrate clearly the improvement achieved over simple Branch & Bound.     

Multiple-type,two-dimensional bin packing problems: Applications and algorithms

In this paper we consider a class of bin selection and packing problems (BPP) in which potential bins are of various types, have two resource constraints, and the resource requirement for each object differs for each bin type. The problem is to select bins and assign the objects to bins so as to minimize the sum of bin costs while meeting the two resource constraints. This problem represents an extension of the classical two-dimensional BPP in which bins are homogeneous. Typical applications of this research include computer storage device selection with file assignment, robot selection with work station assignment, and computer processor selection with task assignment. Three solution algorithms have been developed and tested: a simple greedy heuristic, a method based onsimulated annealing (SA) and an exact algorithm based onColumn Generation with Branch and Bound (CG). An LP-based method for generating tight lower bounds was also developed (LB). Several hundred test problems based on computer storage device selection and file assignment were generated and solved. The heuristic solved problems up to 100 objects in less than a second; average solution value was within about 3% of the optimum. SA improved solutions to an average gap of less than 1% but a significant increase in computing time. LB produced average lower bounds within 3% of optimum within a few seconds. CG is practical for small to moderately-sized problems — possibly as many as 50 objects.     

Some branch and bound techniques for nonlinear optimization

The range of nonlinear optimization problems which can be solved by Linear Programming and the Branch and Bound algorithm is extended by introducing Chains of Linked Ordered Sets and by allowing automatic interpolation of new variables. However this approach involves solving a succession of linear subproblems, whose solutions in general violate the logical requirements of the nonlinear formulation and may lie far from any local or global optimum. The paper describes techniques which are designed to improve the performance of the Branch and Bound algorithm on problems containing chains, and which also yield benefits in integer programming.Each linear subproblem is tightened towards the corresponding nonlinear problem by removing variables which must logically be nonbasic in any feasible solution. This is achieved by a presolve procedure, and also by post-optimal Lagrangian relaxation which tightens the bound on the objective function by assessing the cheapest way to satisfy any violated chain constraints. Frequently fewer subsequent branches are required to find a feasible solution or to prove infeasibility.Formerly of Scicon Ltd.     

Fleet assignment and routing with schedule synchronization constraints

This paper introduces a new type of constraints, related to schedule synchronization, in the problem formulation of aircraft fleet assignment and routing problems and it proposes an optimal solution approach. This approach is based on Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition/column generation. The resulting master problem consists of flight covering constraints, as in usual applications, and of schedule synchronization constraints. The corresponding subproblem is a shortest path problem with time windows and linear costs on the time variables and it is solved by an optimal dynamic programming algorithm. This column generation procedure is embedded into a branch and bound scheme to obtain integer solutions. A dedicated branching scheme was devised in this paper where the branching decisions are imposed on the time variables. Computational experiments were conducted using weekly fleet routing and scheduling problem data coming from an European airline. The test problems are solved to optimality. A detailed result analysis highlights the advantages of this approach: an extremely short subproblem solution time and, after several improvements, a very efficient master problem solution time.     

Scheduling preemptive open shops to minimize total tardiness

This article considers the problem of scheduling preemptive open shops to minimize total tardiness. The problem is known to be NP-hard. An efficient constructive heuristic is developed for solving large-sized problems. A branch-and-bound algorithm that incorporates a lower bound scheme based on the solution of an assignment problem as well as various dominance rules are presented for solving medium-sized problems. Computational results for the 2-machine case are reported. The branch-and-bound algorithm can handle problems of up to 30 jobs in size within a reasonable amount of time. The solution obtained by the heuristic has an average deviation of less than 2% from the optimal value, while the initial lower bound has an average deviation of less than 11% from the optimal value. Moreover, the heuristic finds approved optimal solutions for over 65% of the problems actually solved.     

Single machine common flow allowance scheduling with controllable processing times

In this paper, we consider single machine SLK due date assignment scheduling problem in which job processing times are controllable variables with linear costs. The objective is to determine the optimal sequence, the optimal common flow allowance and the optimal processing time compressions to minimize a total penalty function based on earliness, tardiness, common flow allowance and compressions. We solve the problem by formulating it as an assignment problem which is polynomially solvable. For some special cases, we present an O(n logn) algorithm to obtain the optimal solution respectively.     

Global minimization by reducing the duality gap

We derive a general principle demonstrating that by partitioning the feasible set, the duality gap, existing between a nonconvex program and its lagrangian dual, can be reduced, and in important special cases, even eliminated. The principle can be implemented in a Branch and Bound algorithm which computes an approximate global solution and a corresponding lower bound on the global optimal value. The algorithm involves decomposition and a nonsmooth local search. Numerical results for applying the algorithm to the pooling problem in oil refineries are given.Research supported by Shell Laboratorium, Amsterdam, and GIF—The German—Israel Foundation for Scientific Research and Development.     

A Branch and Bound algorithm for the minimax regret spanning arborescence

The paper considers the problem of finding a spanning arborescence on a directed network whose arc costs are partially known. It is assumed that each arc cost can take on values from a known interval defining a possible economic scenario. In this context, the problem of finding the spanning arborescence which better approaches to that of minimum overall cost under each possible scenario is studied. The minimax regret criterion is proposed in order to obtain such a robust solution of the problem. As it is shown, the bounds on the optimal value of the minimax regret optimization problem obtained in a previous paper, can be used here in a Branch and Bound algorithm in order to give an optimal solution. The computational behavior of the algorithm is tested through numerical experiments. This research has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and FEDER Grant No. MTM2006-04393 and by the European Alfa Project, “Engineering System for Preparing and Making Decisions Under Multiple Criteria”, II-0321-FA.     

New dominance rules and exploration strategies for?the?1|ri|∑Ui scheduling problem

The paper proposes a new exact approach, based on a Branch, Bound, and Remember (BB&R) algorithm that uses the Cyclic Best First Search (CBFS) strategy, for the 1|r _i |∑U _i scheduling problem, a single machine scheduling problem, where the objective is to find a schedule with the minimum number of tardy jobs. The search space is reduced using new and improved dominance properties and tighter upper bounds, based on a new dynamic programming algorithm. Computational results establish the effectiveness of the BB&R algorithm with CBFS for a broad spectrum of problem instances. In particular, this algorithm was able to solve all problems instances, up to 300 jobs, while existing best known algorithms only solve problems instances up to 200 jobs. Furthermore, the BB&R algorithm with CBFS runs one to two orders of magnitude faster than the current best known algorithm on comparable instances.     

Models and algorithms for a staff scheduling problem

We present mathematical models and solution algorithms for a family of staff scheduling problems arising in real life applications. In these problems, the daily assignments to be performed are given and the durations (in days) of the working and rest periods for each employee in the planning horizon are specified in advance, whereas the sequence in which these working and rest periods occur, as well as the daily assignment for each working period, have to be determined. The main objective is the minimization of the number of employees needed to perform all daily assignments in the horizon. We decompose the problem into two steps: the definition of the sequence of working and rest periods (called pattern) for each employee, and the definition of the daily assignment to be performed in each working period by each employee. The first step is formulated as a covering problem for which we present alternative ILP models and exact enumerative algorithms based on these models. Practical experience shows that the best approach is based on the model in which variables are associated with feasible patterns and generated either by dynamic programming or by solving another ILP. The second step is stated as a feasibility problem solved heuristically through a sequence of transportation problems. Although in general this procedure may not find a solution (even if one exists), we present sufficient conditions under which our approach is guaranteed to succeed. We also propose an iterative heuristic algorithm to handle the case in which no feasible solution is found in the second step. We present computational results on real life instances associated with an emergency call center. The proposed approach is able to determine the optimal solution of instances involving up to several hundred employees and a working period of up to 6 months. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 90B70, 90C10, 90C27, 90C39, 90C57, 90C59     

Some Fixed-Point Results for the Dynamic Assignment Problem

In previous work the authors consider the dynamic assignment problem, which involves solving sequences of assignment problems over time in the presence of uncertain information about the future. The algorithm proposed by the authors provides generally high-quality but non-optimal solutions. In this work, though, the authors prove that if the optimal solution to a dynamic assignment problem in one of two problem classes is unique, then the optimal solution is a fixed point under the algorithm.     

一种多策略引导的电磁场优化算法求解作业车间调度问题

电磁场优化算法是目前一种比较新颖的群智能优化算法,其利用不同极性电磁场所产生的引斥力,使电磁粒子朝最优解移动。针对标准电磁场优化算法在求解作业车间调度问题时容易陷入局部极值点、收敛精度差等问题,提出了一种多策略引导的电磁场优化算法。算法中粒子受到三种不同来源的引斥力,在迭代过程中通过计算每种移动策略的临代电差、累计电差和综合电差来决定粒子的引导方式,并通过概率变异算法来避免陷入局部最优解。通过作业车间调度问题FT、LA系列测试实例仿真实验,对新算法与其他算法的测试结果进行比较分析,研究表明该算法具有更高的求解精度和更快的计算速度。