Testing the Performance of Bat-Algorithm for Permutation Flow Shop Scheduling Problems with Makespan Minimization

In this work, a BAT Algorithm is proposed to solve the permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSSP) with minimizing makespan criterion. In a PFSSP, there are n-jobs and m-machines with a proportional deterioration is considered in which all machines process the jobs in the same order, i.e., a permutation schedule. Every job comprises of a foreordained arrangement of assignment operations, each of which should be handled without intrusion for a given timeframe on a given machine. As of late, optimization algorithms such as ant colony optimization (ACO), simulated annealing (SA), artificial bee colony (ABC), genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and tabu search (TS) have assumed a significant role in solving PFSSPs. The popular NEH algorithm is considered as the parent algorithm to find the initial solution, and the makespan is minimized in two stages of simulation. The proposed algorithm is tested on 12 flow shop scheduling bench mark problems from OR Library. The proposed algorithm is validated with a well- chosen set of benchmark problems in the literature. Computational results indicate that the proposed bat algorithm is more efficient than the TLBO & HPSO algorithm.