Dynamic Scheduling Method for Job-Shop Manufacturing Systems by Deep Reinforcement Learning with Proximal Policy Optimization

Ming Zhang, Yang Lu, Youxi Hu, Nasser Amaitik and Yuchun Xu
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Ming Zhang: College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Yang Lu: School of Science, Technology and Health, York St John University, York YO31 7EX, UK
Youxi Hu: College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Nasser Amaitik: College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Yuchun Xu: College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: With the rapid development of Industrial 4.0, the modern manufacturing system has been experiencing profoundly digital transformation. The development of new technologies helps to improve the efficiency of production and the quality of products. However, for the increasingly complex production systems, operational decision making encounters more challenges in terms of having sustainable manufacturing to satisfy customers and markets’ rapidly changing demands. Nowadays, rule-based heuristic approaches are widely used for scheduling management in production systems, which, however, significantly depends on the expert domain knowledge. In this way, the efficiency of decision making could not be guaranteed nor meet the dynamic scheduling requirement in the job-shop manufacturing environment. In this study, we propose using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) methods to tackle the dynamic scheduling problem in the job-shop manufacturing system with unexpected machine failure. The proximal policy optimization (PPO) algorithm was used in the DRL framework to accelerate the learning process and improve performance. The proposed method was testified within a real-world dynamic production environment, and it performs better compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; manufacturing sustainability; dynamic scheduling; deep reinforcement learning; artificial neural networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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