Clarifying Cutting and Sewing Processes with Due Windows Using an Effective Ant Colony Optimization

Abstract

The cutting and sewing process is a traditional flow shop scheduling problem in the real world. This two-stage flexible flow shop is often commonly associated with manufacturing in the fashion and textiles industry. Many investigations have demonstrated that the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is effective and efficient for solving scheduling problems. This work applies a novel effective ant colony optimization (EACO) algorithm to solve two-stage flexible flow shop scheduling problems and thereby minimize earliness, tardiness, and makespan. Computational results reveal that for both small and large problems, EACO is more effective and robust than both the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and the ACO algorithm. Importantly, this work demonstrates that EACO can solve complex scheduling problems in an acceptable period of time.

A Scheduling and Rescheduling Decision Support System for Apparel Manufacturing

“…In their study, the objective function was the minimization of makespan and the number of orders with late delivery. Huang and Yu (2013) solved the cutting and sewing scheduling problem using an ant colony optimization algorithm while minimizing earliness, tardiness, and makespan. Ardjmand (2015) considered the scheduling problem in apparel manufacturing along with planning, pricing, and inventory decisions.…”

Iterated search methods for earliness and tardiness minimization in hybrid flowshops with due windows

“…The combination of hybrid flowshops and due windows, as stated previously is almost non-existent in the literature. We only find recent related papers, the first one by Huang and Yu (2013) which study a two stage hybrid flowshop with distinct due windows and an objective function which is a linear combination of makespan, ET without weights. In the second paper, the same authors Huang et al (2014) introduce reentry of jobs into the problem.…”

Improving the Performance of Modular Production in the Apparel Assembly: A Mathematical Programming Approach

“…To meet the retailers' requirements and, at the same time, keep their own inventory as low as possible, the apparel manufacturers need to employ the more flexible production systems for the apparel assembly [14]. Although the assembly process in PBS can be modified to achieve some degree of flexibility [15,16], employing modular production system (MPS) [3,[17][18][19][20][21] with some performance improvement strategy [5] is more promising to achieve these goals. In MPS, the module, which consists of a group of workers, is in charge of a part of, sometimes a whole, garment.…”