Hybrid Pathfinder Algorithm for FSSP with Limited Buffers under Time-of-Use Electricity Prices

Aiming at the multi-objective flow shop scheduling problem with limited buffers, a hybrid pathfinder algorithm (HPFA) is presented to minimize the electricity cost and the maximum tardiness. Firstly, the position vector of individuals in PFA is converted to job permutations by the largest-order-value (LOV) rule. Secondly, a heuristic operation named NEH is added to improve the quality of the initial solution. Thirdly, after pathfinder location update, a variable neighborhood search (VNS), which is designed based on three sub-regions, is applied to enrich the search efficiency and to avoid premature convergence. Simulation results and comparisons with the INSGA-II based on benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed HPFA.