A Max-Min Ant System modeling approach for production scheduling in a FMS

This paper proposes an Ant Colony optimization approach for production scheduling problem in a flexible manufacturing system. The problem is treated on two perspectives, based on the modeling and the search method. The problem modeling is characterized by a high-level problem description, using the production routes as a way to represent the states of the solution space. About the collaboration concept is applied a search method based on Max-Min Ant System algorithm. The makespan value and response time obtained by the proposed approach are compared with another approach results that uses the genetic algorithms (GA) technique for the same problem. According to the results achieved, the proposed approach is effective for the problem considered, with quality solutions in a short time processing.