Most scheduling methodologies developed until now have laid down good
theoretical foundations, but there is still the need for real-time rescheduling methods that can
work effectively in disruption management. In this work, a novel approach for automatic
generation of rescheduling knowledge using Relational Reinforcement Learning (RRL) is
presented. Relational representations of schedule states and repair operators enable to encode
in a compact way and use in real-time rescheduling knowledge learned through intensive
simulations of state transitions. An industrial example where a current schedule must be
repaired following the arrival of a new order is discussed using a prototype application –
SmartGantt®- for interactive rescheduling in a reactive way. SmartGantt® demonstrates the
advantages of resorting to RRL and abstract states for real-time rescheduling. A small number
of training episodes are required to define a repair policy which can handle on the fly events
such as order insertion, resource break-down, raw material delay or shortage and rush order
arrivals using a sequence of operators to achieve a selected goal.
