Abstract
This paper addresses to the flowshop scheduling problem with blocking constraints.The objective is to minimize the makespan criterion. We propose a hybrid combinatorial particle swarm optimization algorithm (HCPSO) as a resolution technique for solving this problem. Atthe initialization, differen tpriority rules are exploited. Experimental study and statistical analysis were performed to select the most adapted one for this problem. Then, the swarm behavior is tested for solving acombinatorial optimization problem such as a sequencing problem under constraints. Finally, an iterated local search algorithm based on probabilistic perturbation is sequentially introduced to the particle swarm optimization algorithm for improving the quality of solution. The computational results show that our approach is able to improve several best known solutions of the literature. Infact, 76solutions among120were improved. Moreover, HCPSO outperforms the compared methods in terms of quality of solutions in shorttime requirements. Also, the performance of the proposed approach is evaluated according to a real-world industrial problem. (C) 2016 Society of CAD/CAM Engineers. Publishing Servies by Elsevier.