Solving a Stochastic Multi-Objective Sequence Dependence Disassembly Sequence Planning Problem with an Innovative Bees Algorithm

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper studied the stochastic multiobjective sequence dependence disassembly sequence planning problem with an innovative bees algorithm. The following issues should be solved:

 

1. Why do the author name it "innovative bees algorithm"? What is the major novelty between the proposed and the traditional one?

2. Figure 1 is not clear and it is recommended to use another one.

3. How do the authors obtain the values in table 1? More explanations should be given.

4. All the parameters in this paper should be double checked.

5. How do the authors quatify the energy consumption during disassembly process?

6. The proposed operators are quite common in many meta-heuristics optimization algorithm. It is hard to name "innovative" in this paper.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Needs to be proofed

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I find it challenging to see the fundamental principles of the Bees Algorithm (BA) within the proposed IBA framework. The traditional Bees Algorithm encompasses not only scout bees but also worker bees, which are further categorised into elite and non-elite workers.

Additionally, the BA is fundamentally a foraging-based algorithm, where the new solutions are generated from the scout bees' findings and subsequently exploited or refined by the worker bees. In contrast, your search operator employs an evolutionary strategy, leveraging the genetic information from two parent solutions to generate an offspring solution.

Moreover, the parameters you have utilised in your algorithm exclusively pertain to scout bees, with no mention of worker bees or the neighborhood search mechanism that is central to BA.

To support your claim that the IBA is based on the Bees Algorithm, please provide clear evidence and detailed explanations demonstrating the integration and operation of these BA components within your framework.

Overall, the paper is well-written and good, but it would be improved by providing more detailed pseudocode or the code link (github) to make it reproducible. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper proposes a novel sequence-dependent disassembly sequence planning problem in an uncertain environment. A mixed-integer optimization model is constructed to minimize disassembly time and energy consumption simultaneously. A stochastic programming approach is used to address uncertainties in disassembly processes, and an innovative bees algorithm (IBA) is designed to handle it. The effectiveness of the developed method has been proven by showing superior performance compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms in various test cases. This research is an interesting work. However, the following concerns should be further handled.

1. Abbreviations should appear in text rather than Abstract. The language of Abstract should be further polished.

2. There are some language expression problems and grammatical errors. For example, “Considering the problem's complexity” should be “Considering the problem’s complexity”. Please check and adjust them carefully.

3. To make readers easy to understand the motivations and novelties of this work, it is recommended to use a table to visually show the research gap and differences between this work and previous studies. The authors can refer to the following methods: “Multi-objective home health care routing and scheduling with sharing service via a problem-specific knowledge-based artificial bee colony algorithm” and “Multi-product disassembly line balancing optimization method for high disassembly profit and low energy consumption with noise pollution constraints.”

4. In Section 2, Eq. (2) denotes the objective of minimizing disassembly energy consumption. To make readers understand the generated energy consumption in the disassembly process, it is suggested to further explain the composition of energy consumption. Additionally, it seems that the two optimization objectives, i.e., disassembly time minimization and energy consumption minimization, are not contradictory. Does this also apply to multi-objective optimization?

5. The mathematical model should be further checked and adjusted. For example, in equations (5) and (6), the value range of the index should be further given. The authors can refer to the expression in “A multi-objective scheduling and routing problem for home health care services via brain storm optimization.” and “An enhanced group teaching optimization algorithm for multi-product disassembly line balancing problems”.

6. To illustrate the feasibility and rationality of the designed IBA in solving the studied problem, the reasons of adopting IBA as the solution method and selecting compared algorithms should be further explained.

7. In Section 3.5, to make readers easy to understand the constraint correction method, its details can be further given. To be specific, how this method guarantees that the designed algorithm maintains adherence to the problem’s constraints throughout the exploration of the solution space?

8. To enhance engineering implications, it is suggested to give the managerial insights, which can refer to the following research “Integrated remanufacturing scheduling of disassembly, reprocessing and reassembly considering energy efficiency and stochasticity through group teaching optimization and simulation approaches.”

Comments on the Quality of English Language

It needs a minor revision.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf