Fuzzy greedy search heuristic for combinatorial optimization with specific application to machine scheduling

Abstract

This paper presents the mathematics of a two-phase constructive polynomial-time heuristic that can be integrated into approaches for hard combinatorial optimization problems. The proposed method evaluates objects in a way that combines fuzzy reasoning with a greedy mechanism, thereby exploiting a fuzzy solution space using greedy methods. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method are demonstrated on permutation flow-shop scheduling as one of the most widely studied hard combinatorial optimization problems in the areas of operational research and management science.

Keywords:

• Combinatorial optimization
• fuzzy sets
• greedy algorithms
• heuristics
• scheduling
• sequencing

Jel Classification:

• C02
• C44
• C61
• C63