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Advances in AI and Optimization for Scheduling Problems in Industry

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Industrial Technologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2025 | Viewed by 913

Special Issue Editors

Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Interests: stochastic optimization; AI and machine learning; integrated learning and optimization; distributionally robust optimization; smart service and scheduling

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Guest Editor
Mechanical Engineering Department, MEtRICs Research Center, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: cyber-physical systems; dependable controllers for dependable mechatronic systems; mechatronic systems design for medical/biomedical applications, wellbeing and/or rehabilitation
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Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Interests: scheduling; deep learning; optimization under uncertainty; distributionally robust optimization; reinforcement learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In today's rapidly evolving industrial landscape, efficient scheduling remains a critical challenge that significantly impacts productivity and operational effectiveness. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced optimization techniques offers promising solutions to these scheduling problems, enabling industries to enhance their decision-making processes and operational efficiency. This Special Issue, "Advances in AI and Optimization for Scheduling Problems in Industry", aims to explore the latest advancements and applications of AI and optimization methods in tackling complex scheduling problems across various industrial sectors.

Industries such as manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and energy are increasingly leveraging AI-driven optimization to address intricate scheduling challenges. The adoption of technologies such as machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and cyber–physical systems (CPS) is revolutionizing how scheduling problems are approached and solved. These technologies facilitate real-time data analysis, predictive maintenance, adaptive scheduling, and resource allocation, thereby optimizing the overall production process and reducing downtime.

This Special Issue seeks to highlight the confluence of AI and optimization techniques in industrial scheduling, focusing on innovative research that demonstrates the practical applications and benefits of these technologies. Contributions on a wide range of topics are invited, including but not limited to the use of AI for predictive scheduling, the role of optimization algorithms in dynamic environments, the integration of IoT for smart scheduling, and the impact of AI on workforce management.

We welcome submissions that provide new insights, propose novel methodologies, or present case studies that illustrate successful implementations of AI and optimization in industrial scheduling. This Special Issue aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, fostering a deeper understanding of how AI and optimization are shaping the future of industrial scheduling.

Dr. Ran Ji
Dr. Jose Machado
Dr. Zhengyang Fan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • artificial intelligence (AI)
  • optimization techniques
  • smart scheduling
  • machine learning (ML)
  • predictive maintenance
  • decision-focused learning
  • integrated learning-and-optimization

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 6085 KiB  
Article
Deep Reinforcement Learning for Selection of Dispatch Rules for Scheduling of Production Systems
by Kosmas Alexopoulos, Panagiotis Mavrothalassitis, Emmanouil Bakopoulos, Nikolaos Nikolakis and Dimitris Mourtzis
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(1), 232; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15010232 - 30 Dec 2024
Viewed by 498
Abstract
Production scheduling is a critical task in the management of manufacturing systems. It is difficult to derive an optimal schedule due to the problem complexity. Computationally expensive and time-consuming solutions have created major issues for companies trying to respect their customers’ demands. Simple [...] Read more.
Production scheduling is a critical task in the management of manufacturing systems. It is difficult to derive an optimal schedule due to the problem complexity. Computationally expensive and time-consuming solutions have created major issues for companies trying to respect their customers’ demands. Simple dispatching rules have typically been applied in manufacturing practice and serve as a good scheduling option, especially for small and midsize enterprises (SMEs). However, in recent years, the progress in smart systems enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions has revolutionized the scheduling approach. Under different production circumstances, one dispatch rule may perform better than others, and expert knowledge is required to determine which rule to choose. The objective of this work is to design and implement a framework for the modeling and deployment of a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) agent to support short-term production scheduling. The DRL agent selects a dispatching rule to assign jobs to manufacturing resources. The model is trained, tested and evaluated using a discrete event simulation (DES) model that simulates a pilot case from the bicycle production industry. The DRL agent can learn the best dispatching policy, resulting in schedules with the best possible production makespan. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in AI and Optimization for Scheduling Problems in Industry)
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