Production Scheduling at a Powder Coating Company

Abstract

In this study, we consider parallel machine production scheduling problem of a Powder Coating company. A mathematical model with firm-specific constraints such as order splitting and machine availability is developed. The objective is to minimize the total weighted completion time of jobs. We propose two heuristic solution algorithms: A Genetic Algorithm and a Rule-Based Algorithm. For smaller instances, each algorithm is compared with the optimum. On the other hand, for larger instances, we compare the performances of the proposed algorithms with each other. Furthermore, we develop a simulation model to test the performances of the solutions determined by deterministic algorithms under randomness in setup times, quality control times and downtimes.