Many-objective multi-task evolutionary method for flexible order production scheduling

• We proposed a many-objective multi-task model to address complex scheduling scenarios. • We propose an MTMOEA-LB to enhance knowledge transfer efficiency under task similarity. • Conduct scenario simulations and experiments using real-world data to highlight innovative. With the continuous development of industrial manufacturing, rationally scheduling multiple-source flexible orders is crucial for achieving sustainable production. However, most existing methods adopt a single-task optimization paradigm with independent modeling, overlooking the similarities among multi-source orders and the correlations between scheduling optimizations. This leads to additional waste of computational resources and the loss of prior experience. To address this issue, we propose a many-objective multi-task optimization paradigm that takes into account the correlations among multi-source flexible orders. Specifically, through the multi-task optimization paradigm, multiple flexible orders with different variable dimensions are uniformly modeled by sharing a set of objective functions, thereby enabling the joint optimization of related scheduling tasks. Secondly, to investigate the impact of tool wear on scheduling performance, an exponential function-based tool wear coefficient is introduced, and a many-objective optimization model is constructed that considers indicators such as processing time, energy consumption, load balancing, and tool wear amount. Next, considering the discrete problem properties, a many-objective multi-task evolutionary algorithm based on load balancing (MTMOEA-LB) is designed to avoid premature convergence of the multi-task optimization algorithm due to task differences. Finally, the actual production order data set of a flange enterprise is used for experimental comparison. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can output high-quality scheduling schemes quickly and effectively compared with other advanced optimization algorithms.