Filtered and recovering beam search algorithms for the early/tardy scheduling problem with no idle time

In this paper, we present filtered and recovering beam search algorithms for the single machine earliness/tardiness scheduling problem with no idle time, and compare them with existing neighbourhood search and dispatch rule heuristics. Filtering procedures using both priority evaluation functions and problem-specific properties have been considered. The computational results show that the recovering beam search algorithms outperform their filtered counterparts, while the priority-based filtering procedure proves superior to the rules-based alternative. The best solutions are given by the neighbourhood search algorithm, but this procedure is computationally intensive and can only be applied to small or medium size instances. The recovering beam search heuristic provides results that are close in solution quality and is significantly faster, so it can be used to solve even large problems.