Scheduling a dynamic flexible flow line with sequence-dependent setup times: a simulation analysis

This paper presents a simulation-based experimental study of scheduling rules for scheduling a dynamic flexible flow line problem considering sequence-dependent setup times. A discrete-event simulation model is presented as well as eight adapted heuristic algorithms, including seven dispatching rules and one constructive heuristic, from the literature. In addition, six new proposed heuristics are implemented in the simulation model. Simulation experiments are conducted under various conditions such as setup time ratio and shop utilisation percentage. One of the proposed rules performs better for the mean flow time measure and another one performs better for the mean tardiness measure. Finally, multiple linear regression based meta-models are developed for the best performing scheduling rules.