Distributed two-stage hybrid flow shop scheduling with setup times

For the Distributed Two-Stage Hybrid Flow Shop Scheduling Problem (DTHFSP) with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times (SDST), a Double Variable Neighborhood Search (DVNS) algorithm was proposed to minimize the total tardiness and makespan simultaneously. The factory assignment and the machine assignment of the first stage were combined together to reduce the number of subproblems. DVNS consisted of two cooperative variable neighborhood structures and each of which had global search operator. Some useful strategies included the cooperation between neighborhood search and global search, the reasonable configuration of neighborhood structures and the periodic update of current solution were applied. Extensive experiments were conducted to test the performance of DVNS and the computational results showed that DVNS had promising advantages on DTHFSP. © 2020, Editorial Department of CIMS. All right reserved.