A Variable Neighborhood Search Metaheuristic for Cellular Manufacturing with Multitask Machine Tools

Traditionally in metal cutting, it is assumed that a machine tool can process at most one operation at a time since machine tools have one spindle and one turret. Yet, with advent of machine tools with multiple spindles and multiple turrets, this assumption does not hold anymore. This paper deals with the integrated problem of process planning and production scheduling for a parallel processing manufacturing cells with multitasking machines. A novel Variable Neighborhood Search (VND) metaheuristic is proposed to solve the problem. This algorithm employs novel operators that cover mechanisms to combine and improve, replace and shake plans and individuals of the VNS population-based search.