Variable neighborhood search-based methods for integrated hybrid flow shop scheduling with distribution.

With the rapid development of make-to-order pattern including E-commerce and takeout and catering service in restaurants, the study of integrated scheduling and distribution receives more and more attentions. Based on a practical order picking and distribution system, a three-stage hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with distribution is studied. Each order is processed on the hybrid flow shop which consists of identical parallel machines with sequence-dependent setup times at stage 1, identical parallel machines at stage 2 and dedicated machines at stage 3, followed by a multi-trip traveling salesman problem with capacitated vehicles for customers of different destination areas. A mixed-integer linear programming model is formulated to minimize the maximum delivery completion time. A variable neighborhood search (VNS)-based method, a four-layered constructive heuristic method (denoted by C H VNS ) and a hybrid heuristic method (denoted by C O N S VNS ) which combines the VNS method and the C H VNS method are developed to solve the problems with practical size. Computational experiments show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]