An Effective Marine Predators Algorithm for Flexible Job-shop Scheduling Problem

Abstract

The Flexible Job-shop Scheduling Problem (FJSP) is an extension of the well-known job- shop problem (JSP), where each job can be completed on a machine to optimize several per- formance indicators, including job tardiness, machine utilization, and makespan. It is classified as an NP-hard problem due to its complexity in assigning operations to machines and determining their optimal sequence and real-world applicability. This paper introduces the Marine Predators Algorithm (MPA) for solving the FJSP to minimize the makespan. The performance of the pro- posed MPA was determined by comparing its results to five other metaheuristic algorithms. We perform extensive analyses using the Brandimarte benchmark dataset. The results demonstrate that the MPA outperforms HLO-PSO in key instances, such as MK01 and MK05, with makespan reductions of up to 13%. Our GitHub Link for the Code and Dataset: https://github.com/Noha-Warda/Solving-FJSP-Using-Marine-Predators-Algorithm