Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

This paper proposes a simulated annealing algorithm to solve the assignment and sequencing problem for customized-shoes stitching lines, each of which is a flow shop. We consider sequence-dependent setup times imposed by materials and col-ors, different line speeds by each line’s capability on speci...

This paper proposes a simulated annealing algorithm to solve the assignment and sequencing problem for customized-shoes stitching lines, each of which is a flow shop. We consider sequence-dependent setup times imposed by materials and col-ors, different line speeds by each line’s capability on specific shoe types, and pro-cessing time variation by material and size. To reduce the search space, we employ list schedules that represent candidate solutions during neighborhood search. List schedules are easily decoded to full schedules for stitching lines. The experimental results show that our proposed algorithm outperforms by 20 to 30% the greedy heuristic that is used in practice. Our approach is expected to improve the productivity by utilizing labors and resources more efficiently.

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