Preventive maintenance scheduling of FMS equipment based on improved ant colony algorithm

The importance of preventive maintenance scheduling has been gradually recognized by decision makers as it includes the necessary tasks to avoid flexible manufacturing system (FMS) unavailability. The PM scheduling of FMS machines is NP-hard problem. ACOA is an efficient method to solve NP-hard problem. This paper put forward an improved algorithm based on multiple ant colonies to solve the PM scheduling plan of FMS machines. Experimental results of a preventive maintenance scheduling of FMS equipment indicate the effectiveness of the adaptive strategies and the efficiency of the multiple ant colonies algorithm.