A hybrid population-based ruin-and-recreate algorithm for the blocking flow shop scheduling problem

Ewerton Teixeira, Anand Subramanian and Hugo Harry Kramer

European Journal of Operational Research, 2026, vol. 329, issue 2, 391-404

Abstract: This study addresses the blocking flow shop scheduling problem with makespan minimization. In this problem, n jobs need to be scheduled in a serially ordered environment of m machines, where all jobs must follow the same processing order. Additionally, there is no intermediate buffer between these machines. To solve it, we devise a hybrid population-based heuristic, combining a ruin-and-recreate operator with a local search based on variable neighborhood descent. The algorithm incorporates search acceleration procedures, an efficient tie-breaking criterion, and a population diversity control mechanism. Computational experiments were conducted on 150 benchmark instances, and the proposed method achieved highly competitive results, equaling or improving 94.67% the best-known solutions. We also examine the impact of the main components of the algorithm to evaluate their relevance in the performance of the heuristic.

Keywords: Scheduling; Blocking flow shop; Population search; Ruin-and-recreate; Variable neighborhood descent (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ejores:v:329:y:2026:i:2:p:391-404

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.002

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