An Integrated Model of Project Scheduling and Material Ordering: A Hybrid Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithm

Subject Areas : Design of Experiment

Nima Zoraghi ¹ ( Islamic Azad University, Qazvin Branch )
Amir Abbas Najafi ² ( K.N. Toosi University of Technology )
سید تقی اخوان نیاکی ³ ( دانشگاه صنعتی شریف )

Received: 2011-09-05 Accepted : 2012-02-25 Published : 2012-03-15

Keywords: Project Scheduling, Material ordering, Hybrid simulated annealing, Taguchi design,

Abstract :

This study aims to deal with a more realistic combined problem of project scheduling and material ordering. The goal is to minimize thetotal material holding and ordering costs by determining the starting time of activities along with material ordering schedules subject tosome constraints. The problem is first mathematically modelled. Then a hybrid simulated annealing and genetic algorithm is proposed tosolve it. In addition, some experiments are designed and the Taguchi method is employed to both tune the parameters of the proposedalgorithm and to evaluate its performance. The results of the performance analysis show the efficiency of the proposed methodology.