A discrete invasive weed optimization algorithm for the no-wait lot-streaming flow shop scheduling problems

Abstract

The no-wait lot-streaming flow shop scheduling has important applications in modern industry. This paper deals with the makespan for the problems with equal-size sublots. A fast calculation method is designed to reduce the time complexity. A discrete invasive weed optimization (DIWO) algorithm is proposed. In the proposed DIWO algorithm, job permutation representation is utilized, Nawaz-Enscore-Ham heuristic is used to generate initial solutions with high quality. A reference local search procedure is employed to perform local exploitation. Extensive computational simulations and comparisons are provided, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed DIWO algorithm.