Multiobjective integrated scheduling of disassembly and reprocessing operations considering product structures and stochastic processing time via reinforcement learning-based evolutionary algorithms

Abstract Remanufacturing has become a mainstream sustainable manufacturing paradigm for energy conservation and environmental protection. Disassembly and reprocessing operations are two main activities in remanufacturing. This work proposes multiobjective integrated scheduling of disassembly and reprocessing operations considering product structures and random processing time. First, a stochastic programming model is developed to minimize maximum completion time and total tardiness. Second, a reinforcement learning-based multiobjective evolutionary algorithm is devised considering problem-specific knowledge. Three search strategy combinations are formed: crossover and mutation, crossover and key product-based iterated local search, mutation and key product-based iterated local search. At each iteration, a Q-learning method is devised to intelligently choose a combination of premium strategies. A stochastic simulation is incorporated to evaluate the objective values of the searched solutions. Finally, the formulated model and method are compared with an exact solver, CPLEX, and three well-known metaheuristics from the literature on a set of test instances. The results confirm the excellent competitiveness of the developed model and algorithm for solving the considered problem.