Facility location problem and permutation flow shop scheduling problem

Abstract

There is a growing literature spanning several research communities that studies multiple optimisation problems whose solutions interact, thereby leading researchers to consider suitable approaches to joint solution. Real-world problems, like supply chain, are systems characterised by such interactions. A decision made at one point of the supply chain could have significant consequence that ripples through linked production and transportation systems. Such interactions would require complex algorithmic designs. This paper, therefore, investigates the linkages between a facility location and permutation flow shop scheduling problems of a distributed manufacturing system with identical factory (FLPPFSP). We formulate a novel mathematical model from a linked optimisation perspective with objectives of minimising facility cost and makespan. We present three algorithmic approaches in tackling FLPPFSP; Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm for Linked Problem (NS-GALP), Multi-Criteria Ranking Genetic Algorithm for Linked Problem (MCRGALP), and Sequential approach. To understand FLPPFSP linkages, we conduct a pre-assessment by randomly generating 10000 solution pairs on all combined problem instances and compute their respective correlation coefficients. Finally, we conduct experiments to compare results obtained by the selected algorithmic methods on 620 combined problem instances. Empirical results demonstrate that NSGALP outperforms the other two methods based on relative hypervolume, hypervolume and epsilon metrics. CCS CONCEPTS• Applied computing → Supply chain management.