Fast elitist ABC for makespan optimisation in interval JSP

Abstract

This paper addresses a variant of the Job Shop Scheduling Problem with makespan minimisation where uncertainty in task durations is taken into account and modelled with intervals. A novel Artificial Bee Colony algorithm is proposed where the classical layout is simplified, increasing the algorithm’s speed and reducing the number of parameters to set up. We also take into account the fundamental principles of exploration around a local solution and attraction to a global solution to improve diversity in the hive. The increase on speed and diversity allows to include a Local Search phase to better exploit promising areas of the search space. A parametric analysis is conducted and the contribution of the new strategies is analysed. The results of the new approach are competitive with those obtained with previous methods in the literature, but taking less runtime. The addition of Local Search improves the results even further, outperforming the best-known ones from the literature. An additional sensitivity study is conducted to assess the advantages of considering uncertainty and how increasing it affects the solution’s robustness.