An improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II for distributed heterogeneous hybrid flow-shop scheduling with blocking constraints

Distributed manufacturing is a new trend to accommodate the economic globalization, which means multiple geographically-distributed factories can collaborate to meet urgent delivery requirements. However, such factories may vary due to layout adjustments and equipment aging, thus the production efficiency greatly depends on the allocation of orders. This scenario is frequently found in energy-intensive process industries, e.g., chemical and …