DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED TOOL FOR JOB SHOP SCHEDULING USING PSO AND CPSO

Scheduling of manufacturing systems refers to the determination of the sequence in which jobs are to be processed over the production stages, followed by the determination of the start time and finish time of processing jobs. This paper explores job shop scheduling to reduce makespan through Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Chaotic Particle Swarm Optimization (CPSO) approaches. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is designed to automate the steps involved in optimization of scheduling. The GUI provides the user flexibility in handling different machine systems and seamlessly integrates with decision making process. The results of the two optimization approaches are compared and Gantt chart of the schedule plotted.