Parameter tuning of production scheduling rules by an ant system-embedded genetic algorithm

Abstract

In this paper, a search algorithm is proposed for parameter tuning of production rules in job shop scheduling problems. This algorithm is developed based on the genetic algorithm, which is the core for exploration in the search space. Then an ant system is incorporated, which directs the genetic algorithm to search in the potential regions by marking potential genes for changing during reproduction. The improvement of search ability is verified by several experiments.