This is a prototype of a production scheduler for a chocolate factory (see GitHub repo for more details).

Types of chocolate: dark, milk and white, potentially with nuts
Machine types: A (slower) and B (faster, can handle nuts)
Switchover between orders: costly (thorough cleaning needed) or normal
- Thorough cleaning needed when switching from non-white to white or from nuts to no nuts
Main goal: prevent orders from being overdue or minimize time they are overdue
Further goals: minimize schedule length, minimize costly switchovers

Options

Which orders should be scheduled first during initial schedule construction?

Earliest due date: start with the orders that are due first

Least eligible machines: give priority to orders that can run on less machines

Try all: try all order sequence strategies and take the one with the best end result (after iterative optimization if applicable)

Where should orders be inserted during initial schedule construction?

At end, earliest available machine: at the end of the schedule, on the earliest available machine

At end, best schedule: at the end of the schedule, on the machine that results in the best overall schedule

Anywhere, best schedule: at any position (potentially before an already-scheduled order) that results in the best overall schedule

Try all: try all insertion location strategies and take the one with the best end result (after iterative optimization if applicable)

Perform iterative optimization after initial schedule construction

(you will see the results after every strategy has been tried, this might take a while)

Generated schedule (use buttons to step through schedule generation process)

(hover for keyboard shortcuts)

Overview of results

Order sequence	Insertion location	Optimization iterations	Total tardiness	Makespan	Costly switchovers	Machines at makespan