A tabu search experience in production scheduling

During the last four years, tabu search has been shown to be a remarkably effective method in solving difficult combinatorial optimization problems. Nowhere has this success been more marked than in the timely and very important area of production scheduling. In this paper, the authors review some of the research that has contributed to that success. They also give a synthesis of the various tabu search mechanisms that have been employed, giving special attention to advances that have led to major improvements. In the final section of the paper, the authors suggest directions for future research.