2025/08/19 by Antonov, Nikolai, Šůcha, Prěmysl, Janota, Mikoláš +1
#FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Mathematics #Machine Learning (cs.LG) #Machine Learning (stat.ML) #Optimization and Control (math.OC)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2508.13703
Existing research on single-machine scheduling is largely focused on exact algorithms, which perform well on typical instances but can significantly deteriorate on certain regions of the problem space. In contrast, data-driven approaches provide strong and scalable performance when tailored to the structure of specific datasets. Leveraging this idea, we focus on a single-machine scheduling problem where each job is defined by its weight, duration, due date, and deadline, aiming to minimize the total weight of tardy jobs. We introduce a novel data-driven scheduling heuristic that combines machine learning with problem-specific characteristics, ensuring feasible solutions, which is a common challenge for ML-based algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art in terms of optimality gap, number of optimal solutions, and adaptability across varied data scenarios, highlighting its flexibility for practical applications. In addition, we conduct a systematic exploration of ML models, addressing a common gap in similar studies by offering a detailed model selection process and providing insights into why the chosen model is the best fit.