GA-BASED IMPROVEMENT HEURISTIC FOR MINIMIZING MAKESPAN IN A GENERAL FLOW-SHOP SCHEDULING PROBLEM

The study proposes an evolutionary algorithm-based improvement heuristic for the permutation flow-shop problem. The method uses a constructive heuristic to arrive at a good first solution. The GA-based improvement heuristic is used in conjunction with CDS, Gupta's algorithm, and Palmer's Slope Index, which are all well-known constructive heuristics. The method is put to the test on a series of ten issues that vary from 4 to 25 tasks and 4 to 30 machines. The outcomes are also compared to some of the most well-known lower-bound options