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.