Heuristics for Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem with Simultaneous Tasks Execution on Different Workplaces of a Single Machine

We investigate the flexible job shop scheduling problem on multi-workplace machines that can serve several workplaces simultaneously. We developed four heuristics for the production of the product elements for the cases if the sequence of products in an order is determined and not determined. The sequence of product elements in a product was set for both modeled cases. Our goal in investigating heuristic approaches is to push the limits of production scheduling and provide insight into current state-of-the-art methodologies. Heuristics were evaluated by comparing the obtained solution with the optimal solution provided by the CPLEX solver. Heuristics 1, 2, and 3 exhibited superior performance when dealing with cases that necessitated a specific sequence of produced products. Conversely, Heuristics 4 proved to be more effective in solving cases where the sequence of produced products was not determined.