Modelling and Scheduling Lot Streaming Flexible Flow Lines

Although lot streaming scheduling is an active research field, lot streaming flexible flow lines problems have received far less attentionthan classical flow shops. This paper deals with scheduling jobs in lot streaming flexible flow line problems. The paper mathematicallyformulates the problem by a mixed integer linear programming model. This model solves small instances to optimality. Moreover, a novelartificial bee colony optimization is developed. This algorithm utilizes five effective mechanisms to solve the problem. To evaluate thealgorithm, it is compared with adaptation of four available algorithms. The statistical analyses showed that the proposed algorithmsignificantly outperformed the other tested algorithms.

Keywords:

Lot streaming , Flexible flow line scheduling , Mixed integer linear programming model , Artificial bee colony optimization