A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems

A recurring operational decision in many service organizations is determining the number of employees, and their work schedules, that minimize labor expenses and expected opportunity costs. These decisions have been modeled as generalized set covering (GSC) problems, deterministic goal programs (DGP...

وصف كامل

محفوظ في:
التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
المؤلف الرئيسي: Mansour, Nashat (author)
مؤلفون آخرون: Easton, Fred F. (author)
التنسيق: article
منشور في: 1999
الوصول للمادة أونلاين:http://hdl.handle.net/10725/4881
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00327-0
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221798003270
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author Mansour, Nashat
author2 Easton, Fred F.
author2_role author
author_facet Mansour, Nashat
Easton, Fred F.
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Mansour, Nashat
Easton, Fred F.
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 1999
2016-12-06T09:35:42Z
2016-12-06T09:35:42Z
2016-12-06
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 0377-2217
http://hdl.handle.net/10725/4881
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00327-0
Easton, F. F., & Mansour, N. (1999). A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems. European Journal of Operational Research, 118(3), 505-523.
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221798003270
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv European Journal of Operational Research
dc.rights.*.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
description A recurring operational decision in many service organizations is determining the number of employees, and their work schedules, that minimize labor expenses and expected opportunity costs. These decisions have been modeled as generalized set covering (GSC) problems, deterministic goal programs (DGP), and stochastic goal programs (SGP); each a challenging optimization problem. The pervasiveness and economic significance of these three problems has motivated ongoing development and refinement of heuristic solution procedures. In this paper we present a unified formulation for these three labor scheduling problems and introduce a distributed genetic algorithm (DGA) that solves each of them. Our distributed genetic algorithm operates in parallel on a network of message-passing workstations. Separate subpopulations of solutions evolve independently on each processor but occasionally, the fittest solutions migrate over the network to join neighboring subpopulations. With its standard genetic operators, DGA frequently produces infeasible offspring. A few of these are repaired before they enter the population. However, most enter the population as-is, carrying an appropriate fitness penalty. This allows DGA to exploit potentially favorable adaptations that might be present in infeasible solutions while orienting the locus of the search near the feasible region. We applied the DGA to suites of published test problems for GSC, DGP, and SGP formulations and compared its performance with alternative solution procedures, including other metaheuristics such as simulated annealing and tabu search. We found that DGA outperformed the competing alternatives in terms of mean error, maximum error, and percentage of least cost solutions. While DGA is computationally intensive, the quality of its solutions is commensurate with the effort expended. In plots of solution quality versus CPU time for the various algorithms evaluated in our study, DGA consistently appeared on the efficient frontier.
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Easton, F. F., & Mansour, N. (1999). A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems. European Journal of Operational Research, 118(3), 505-523.
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spelling A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problemsMansour, NashatEaston, Fred F.A recurring operational decision in many service organizations is determining the number of employees, and their work schedules, that minimize labor expenses and expected opportunity costs. These decisions have been modeled as generalized set covering (GSC) problems, deterministic goal programs (DGP), and stochastic goal programs (SGP); each a challenging optimization problem. The pervasiveness and economic significance of these three problems has motivated ongoing development and refinement of heuristic solution procedures. In this paper we present a unified formulation for these three labor scheduling problems and introduce a distributed genetic algorithm (DGA) that solves each of them. Our distributed genetic algorithm operates in parallel on a network of message-passing workstations. Separate subpopulations of solutions evolve independently on each processor but occasionally, the fittest solutions migrate over the network to join neighboring subpopulations. With its standard genetic operators, DGA frequently produces infeasible offspring. A few of these are repaired before they enter the population. However, most enter the population as-is, carrying an appropriate fitness penalty. This allows DGA to exploit potentially favorable adaptations that might be present in infeasible solutions while orienting the locus of the search near the feasible region. We applied the DGA to suites of published test problems for GSC, DGP, and SGP formulations and compared its performance with alternative solution procedures, including other metaheuristics such as simulated annealing and tabu search. We found that DGA outperformed the competing alternatives in terms of mean error, maximum error, and percentage of least cost solutions. While DGA is computationally intensive, the quality of its solutions is commensurate with the effort expended. In plots of solution quality versus CPU time for the various algorithms evaluated in our study, DGA consistently appeared on the efficient frontier.PublishedN/A2016-12-06T09:35:42Z2016-12-06T09:35:42Z19992016-12-06Articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/article0377-2217http://hdl.handle.net/10725/4881http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00327-0Easton, F. F., & Mansour, N. (1999). A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems. European Journal of Operational Research, 118(3), 505-523.http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.phphttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221798003270enEuropean Journal of Operational Researchinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:laur.lau.edu.lb:10725/48812021-03-19T10:03:22Z
spellingShingle A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
Mansour, Nashat
status_str publishedVersion
title A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
title_full A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
title_fullStr A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
title_full_unstemmed A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
title_short A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
title_sort A distributed genetic algorithm for deterministic and stochastic labor scheduling problems
url http://hdl.handle.net/10725/4881
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00327-0
http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221798003270