Minimization of makes pan in multiple parallel flow line scheduling

TThis paper presents a scheduling problem for parallel flow line with sequence-dependent setup times, using simulated annealing (SA). The problem accounts for allotting work parts of “ l “ jobs into “ m “ parallel flow line, where an optimal schedule is defined as one that gives the optimal makes pan. Each machine has its own processing times according to the characteristics of the machine as well as job types. The set of jobs has to be scheduled, without preemption, on identical parallel flow lines. Each line is able to treat only one job at a time. Setup times are machine independent but job sequence dependent. SA, a meta-heuristic, is employed in this study to determine a scheduling policy so as to minimize makes pan. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed SA method significantly outperforms a neighborhood search method in terms of makes pan.