Research on Swarm Intelligence Algorithm with an Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for Lot Streaming Problem in Job Shop

The lot streaming (LS) problem in job shop with equal-size sub-lots and intermittent idling is considered. An effective swarm intelligence algorithm with an artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is proposed for the minimization of total penalties of tardiness and earliness. In the first period of ABC, the employed bee phase and the onlooker bee phase are both for lot/sub-lot scheduling. In the second period, the LS conditions are determined in the employed bee phase and the lot/sub-lot is scheduled in the onlooker phase. The worst solution of the swarm is replaced with the elite one every few cycles. Computational results show the promising advantage of ABC.