A tabu search algorithm for parallel machine total tardiness problem

In this study, we consider the problem of scheduling a set of independent jobs with sequence dependent setups on a set of uniform parallel machines such that total tardiness is minimized. Jobs have non-identical due dates and arrival times. A tabu search (TS) approach is employed to attack this complex problem. In order to obtain a robust search mechanism, several key components of TS such as candidate list strategies, tabu classifications, tabu tenure and intensification/diversification strategies are investigated. Alternative approaches to each of these issues are developed and extensively tested on a set of problems obtained from the literature. The results obtained are considerably better than those reported previously and constitute the best solutions known for the benchmark problems as to date.