A hybrid shifting bottleneck-tabu search heuristic for the job shop total weighted tardiness problem

: In this paper, we study the job shop scheduling problem with the objective of minimizing the total weighted tardiness. We propose a hybrid shifting bottleneck - tabu search (SB-TS) algorithm by replacing the reoptimization step in the shifting bottleneck (SB) algorithm by a tabu search (TS). In terms of the shifting bottleneck heuristic, the proposed tabu search optimizes the total weighted tardiness for partial schedules in which some machines are currently assumed to have infinite capacity. In the context of tabu search, the shifting bottleneck heuristic features a long-term memory which helps to diversify the local search. We exploit this synergy to develop a state-of-the-art algorithm for the job shop total weighted tardiness problem (JS-TWT). The computational effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated on standard benchmark instances from the literature.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: COR
• Authors: Kerem Bülbül
• Keywords: Applied Computing, COR 2011, Shifting Bottleneck Heuristic, Tabu Search, Total Weighted Tardiness