A genetic programming approach to solve scheduling problems with parallel simulation

Scheduling and dispatching are two ways of solving production planning problems. In this work, based on preceding works, it is explained how these two approaches can be combined by the means of an automated rule generation procedure and simulation. Genetic programming is applied as the creator and optimizer of the rules. A simulator is used for the fitness evaluation and distributed over a number of machines. Some example results suggest that the approach could be successfully applied in the real world as the results are more than human competitive.