A multi-criteria decision making for the unrelated parallel Machines scheduling problem

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a multi-criteria machineschedules decision making method that can be applied to a production environment involving several unrelated parallel machines and we will focus on three objectives: minimizing make-span, total flow time, and total number of tardy jobs. The decision making method consists of three phases. In the first phase, a mathematical model of a single machine scheduling problem, of which the objective is a weighted sum of the three objectives, is constructed. Such a model will be repeatedly solved by the CPLEX in the proposed multi-objective simulated annealing (MOSA) algorithm. In the second phase, the MOSA that integrates job clustering method, job group scheduling method, and job group - machine assignment method, is employed to obtain a set of non-dominated group schedules. During this phase, CPLEX software and the bipartite weighted matching algorithm are used repeatedly as parts of the MOSA algorithm. In the final phase, the technique of data envelopment analysis is applied to determine the most preferable schedule. A practical example is then presented in order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed decision making method. Copyright © (2008) by Computers & Industrial Engineering.