Game theory based multi-task scheduling of decentralized 3D printing services in cloud manufacturing

To improve the multi-task scheduling competitivenesss of the distributed three-dimensional (3D) printing services with different types in cloud manufacturing, a non-cooperative game model of 3D printing services is proposed to reduce completion time, cost and to improve service quality. Moreover, the non-cooperative game consists of two kinds of sub-game to work together. Some service attributes, such as moving speed of nozzle, model dimension, 3D printing precision, 3D printing material, and pricing mode, are considered in the model. In order to obtain the expected solution, a two-layer nested method based on genetic algorithm is developed to improve scheduling efficiency. An industrial case is given to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that it has a better performance than traditional scheduling methods.