Improved tabu search approach for solving the job shop scheduling problem with tooling constraints

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) are nowadays installed in the mechanical industry. In such systems, many different part types are produced simultaneously and it is necessary to take tooling constraints into account for finding an optimal schedule. A heuristic method is presented for solving the m-machine, n-job shop scheduling problem with tooling constraints. This method, named TOMATO, is based on an adaptation of tabu search techniques and is an improvement on the JEST algorithm proposed by Widmer in 1991.