Solving group scheduling problem in no-wait flexible flowshop with random machine breakdown

In this paper, group scheduling problem in no-wait flexible flowshop is considered by considering two stages with group sequence-dependent setup times and random breakdown of the machines. Genetic algorithm and simulated annealing based heuristics have been proposed to solve the problem. The primary objective of scheduling is to minimize the maximum completion time of the jobs for two classes of small and large scale problems. Computational results show that both GA and SA algorithms perform properly, but SA appeared to provide better results for both small and large scale problems