Minimizing makespan in hybrid flow shop scheduling with multiprocessor task problems using a discrete harmony search

The hybrid flow shop scheduling with multiprocessor task (HFSMT) is one of extremely difficult problems in combinatorial optimization. The problem finds various applications in manufacturing and industrial systems such as, manufacturing textile and electronics industries. In this paper, a discrete harmony search algorithm is proposed to solve the HFSMT problem with the objective to minimize the makespan. Computational experiments are carried out based on well-known benchmarks. The obtained results and the comparisons show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.