Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) is a bio-inspired optimization algorithm used in this paper to optimize the multiprocessor scheduling process in the current cyber-physical system. Although SSA is mainly utilized in terms of local search, in our case, an improved version has been introduced with the use of a Local Search Algorithm (LSA) and binary SSA, namely Improved SSA (ISSA). More to the point, eight optimization algorithms are compared with this proposed ISSA namely SSA, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), Jaya Algorithm (JAYA), Chaotic Squirrel Search Algorithm (CSSA), Quantum-inspired Binary Chaotic Salp Swarm Algorithm (QBCSSA) and Space Transformation Search (STS) with SSA is termed as STS-SSA. The performance of ISSA along with the other 6 meta-heuristic and 2 improved versions of SSA algorithms are compared with 12 traditional benchmark functions and evaluated for 100 and 300 dimensions. Convergent curves have also been demonstrated and the proposed ISSA has been shown to find a global optimum within the very initial phase of iterations. For calculating the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, the gear train design problem has been employed. The proposed algorithm has demonstrated higher accuracy rates and better convergent values than the other applied algorithms. © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.