An efficient implementation of a VNS heuristic for the weighted fair sequences problem

In the weighted fair sequences problem (WFSP), one aims to schedule a set of tasks or activities sthat the maximum product between the largest temporal distance between two consecutive executions of a task and its priority is minimized. The WFSP covers a large number of applications in different areas, ranging from automobile production on a mixed-model assembly line to the sequencing of interactive applications to be aired in a digital TV environment. This paper proposes an iterative heuristic method for the WFSP centered on an efficient implementation of a variable neighborhood search heuristic. Computational experiments on benchmark instances show that the proposed metaheuristic outperforms the state-of-the-art method proposed to the problem, obtaining comparable solution values in much less computational time.