Genetic algorithm approach to earliness and tardiness production scheduling and planning problem

A genetic algorithm approach is proposed to address the problem of earliness and tardiness production scheduling and planning in this paper. The proposed method includes lot-size consideration as well as the conflicting issue of capacity balancing. The common problem of large-scale discrete problem where the restriction of linearity, convexity and differentiability is in the cost function is new one which is completely relaxed by this approach. This paper outlines the fundamental issues of the manufacturing design in a genetic algorithm formulation. Both simulation and comparison results indicate that this new scheduling scheme is an effective and efficient technique to tackle the problem.