A Scatter Search Approach for the Parallel Row Ordering Problem

In this work, we present a new approach for the Parallel Row Ordering Problem (PROP), based on the Scatter Search metaheuristic. The PROP focuses on minimizing the total weighted sum of all distances between each pair of facility centers in a linear layout. The proposed method is able to obtain all known optimal values in a fraction of the time required by the previous exact methods for the set of smaller instances, and it outperforms the current state of the art metaheuristic for the set of larger instances, spending a comparable computing time.