Job-shop scheduling - using component packing and simulated annealing approach

An algorithm to solve the job-shop scheduling problem based on the component packing principle is presented. This approach uses the principles of finding an efficient packing of components by modelling machines as bins and operations as components. The algorithm is based on adaptive simulated annealing. The proposed neighbourhood generation scheme is problem independent and it provides fast and good solutions. Computational results show that this algorithm performs better than other recent annealing-based approaches.