An iterated local search algorithm for distributed permutation flowshop group scheduling problems with total flowtime minimization

Distributed permutation flowshop group scheduling problem (DPFGSP) is studied in this paper. This problem can be regarded as a combination of the distributed flowshop scheduling and group scheduling. An improved iterated local search (dILS) algorithm is proposed to minimize the total flowtime. First of all, we use a simple heuristic algorithm based on the famous NEH heuristics to generate an initial solution. Next, we use the solutions obtained from two different neighborhoods to perform an iterated local search. The acceptance criterion is the simulated-annealing type with a constant temperature. Finally, the proposed dILS algorithm is compared with the existing VND algorithm based on the 810 benchmark instances. The experimental results show that the proposed dILS algorithm has significant advantages in solving the DPFGSP under consideration.