TY  - EJOU
AU  - Gao, Song 
AU  - Liu, Shixin 

TI  - A Q-Learning-Assisted Co-Evolutionary Algorithm for Distributed Assembly Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problems
T2  - Computers, Materials \& Continua

PY  - 2025
VL  - 83
IS  - 3
SN  - 1546-2226

AB  - With the development of economic globalization, distributed manufacturing is becoming more and more prevalent. Recently, integrated scheduling of distributed production and assembly has captured much concern. This research studies a distributed flexible job shop scheduling problem with assembly operations. Firstly, a mixed integer programming model is formulated to minimize the maximum completion time. Secondly, a Q-learning-assisted co-evolutionary algorithm is presented to solve the model: (1) Multiple populations are developed to seek required decisions simultaneously; (2) An encoding and decoding method based on problem features is applied to represent individuals; (3) A hybrid approach of heuristic rules and random methods is employed to acquire a high-quality population; (4) Three evolutionary strategies having crossover and mutation methods are adopted to enhance exploration capabilities; (5) Three neighborhood structures based on problem features are constructed, and a Q-learning-based iterative local search method is devised to improve exploitation abilities. The Q-learning approach is applied to intelligently select better neighborhood structures. Finally, a group of instances is constructed to perform comparison experiments. The effectiveness of the Q-learning approach is verified by comparing the developed algorithm with its variant without the Q-learning method. Three renowned meta-heuristic algorithms are used in comparison with the developed algorithm. The comparison results demonstrate that the designed method exhibits better performance in coping with the formulated problem.
KW  - Distributed manufacturing; flexible job shop scheduling problem; assembly operation; co-evolutionary algorithm; Q-learning method

DO  - 10.32604/cmc.2025.058334