A parallel evolutionary algorithm approach to solve sequencing problems

The requirements for enterprises which have to maintain their position in the international competition have fundamentally changed during the last years. The potential of an enterprise in the market is determined by its logistic performance. To meet the dynamic demands of the markets, companies have to be extremely flexible and productive. These market demands have changed the way of production planning as well as the way of order management of which sequencing is a part. Tools based on Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) are efficient means to solve the sequencing tasks. This paper describes a parallel evolutionary approach to solve sequencing problems, and compares the efficiency of different EAs. To demonstrate the practical relevance, a real-world example and a TSP (Travelling Salesman Problem) are considered to prove the assertion.