Hybridizing VNS and path-relinking on a particle swarm framework to minimize total flowtime

This paper presents a new hybridization of VNS and path-relinking on a particle swarm framework for the permutational fowshop scheduling problem with total flowtime criterion. The operators of the proposed particle swarm are based on path-relinking and variable neighborhood search methods. The performance of the new approach was tested on the bechmark suit of Taillard, and five novel solutions for the benchmark suit are reported. The results were compared against results obtained using methods from literature. Statistical analysis favors the new particle swarm approach over the other methods tested.