Resource-constrained job scheduling with recyclable resources

In resource-constrained project scheduling problems, resources are typically classified as being either renewable, non-renewable, or doubly-constrained. A new resource classification, recyclable, is introduced. Notation and a generalized problem formulation are developed for resource-constrained job scheduling problems where resources are recyclable. This foundation is then used for studying the single-machine scheduling problem with tooling constraints. For a given set of jobs, the problem is to find the job sequence, tool type quantities, and tool recycling schedule such that the sum of job completion times and quantity of tools allocated are both minimized. Two solution approaches are developed, and examples are used to compare and contrast the approaches. The results indicate that the ‘traditional’ job scheduling approach (i.e. schedule jobs first, then tools) can lead to sub-optimal solutions. Furthermore, by scheduling jobs and tools simultaneously, it may be possible to attain a given level of performance with fewer tools.     

A combined approach for two-agent scheduling with sum-of-processing-times-based learning effect

This paper considers a scheduling model involving two agents, job release times, and the sum-of-processing-times-based learning effect. The sum-of-processing-times-based learning effect means that the actual processing time of a job of either agent is a decreasing function of the sum of the processing times of the jobs already scheduled in a given schedule. The goal is to seek for an optimal schedule that minimizes the total weighted completion time of the first agent, subject to no tardy job for the second agent. We first provide a branch-and-bound method to solve the problem. We then develop an approach that combines genetic algorithm and simulated annealing to seek for approximate solutions for the problem. We carry on extensive computational tests to assess the performance of the proposed algorithms.     

Fuzzy scheduling of job orders in a two-stage flowshop with batch-processing machines

In this paper, we present a mixed-integer fuzzy programming model and a genetic algorithm (GA) based solution approach to a scheduling problem of customer orders in a mass customizing furniture industry. Independent job orders are grouped into multiple classes based on similarity in style so that the required number of setups is minimized. The family of jobs can be partitioned into batches, where each batch consists of a set of consecutively processed jobs from the same class. If a batch is assigned to one of available parallel machines, a setup is required at the beginning of the first job in that batch. A schedule defines the way how the batches are created from the independent jobs and specifies the processing order of the batches and that of the jobs within the batches. A machine can only process one job at a time, and cannot perform any processing while undergoing a setup. The proposed formulation minimizes the total weighted flowtime while fulfilling due date requirements. The imprecision associated with estimation of setup and processing times are represented by fuzzy sets.     

工件延误和可拒绝下的单机重新排序问题的近似方案

研究工件延误产生干扰且延误工件可拒绝下的单机重新排序问题。在该问题中,给定计划在零时刻到达的一个工件集需在一台机器上加工,工件集中的每个工件有它的加工时间和权重,在工件正式开始加工前,按照最短赋权加工时间优先的初始排序已经给定,目标函数是极小化赋权完工时间和,据此每个工件的承诺交付截止时间也给定。然而,在工件正式开始加工时,工件集中的部分工件由于延误不能按时到达,这对初始排序的执行产生了干扰,所以需要对初始排序进行调整,即重新排序。为了保证服务水平,允许对延误工件拒绝加工,但需支付相应的拒绝费用。调整后的重新排序的目标是在保证接受工件集中工件的最大延误不超过给定的上界的约束下,使得接受工件集的赋权完工时间和,拒绝工件集的拒绝费用和以及接受工件集中工件的最大延误的赋权惩罚费用之和达到极小。对该问题,设计了一个伪多项式时间动态规划精确算法,并利用稀疏技术得到了一个完全多项式时间近似方案。     

Single facility scheduling with multiple job classes

This paper considers a static single facility scheduling problem where jobs are divided into several mutually exclusive classes. The jobs in a given class need not be processed together. In addition to a known processing time for each job, there is a switching time involved which depends on the class of the job immediately preceding a job. A heuristic algorithm is proposed to find a minimum mean flow time schedule. The effectiveness of the proposed heuristic algorithm is empirically evaluated and found to indicate that the solutions obtained from this heuristic algorithm are often close to optimal.     

A MIP formulation for the minmax regret total completion time in scheduling with unrelated parallel machines

The paper proposes a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) formulation of the scheduling problem with total flow criterion on a set of parallel unrelated machines under an uncertainty context about the processing times. To model the problem we assume that lower and upper bounds are known for each processing time. In this context we consider an optimal minmax regret schedule as a suitable approximation to the optimal schedule under an arbitrary choice of the possible processing times.     

Scheduling interfering job sets on parallel machines

We consider bicriteria scheduling on identical parallel machines in a nontraditional context: jobs belong to two disjoint sets, and each set has a different criterion to be minimized. The jobs are all available at time zero and have to be scheduled (non-preemptively) on m parallel machines. The goal is to generate the set of all non-dominated solutions, so the decision maker can evaluate the tradeoffs and choose the schedule to be implemented. We consider the case where, for one of the two sets, the criterion to be minimized is makespan while for the other the total completion time needs to be minimized. Given that the problem is NP-hard, we propose an iterative SPT–LPT–SPT heuristic and a bicriteria genetic algorithm for the problem. Both approaches are designed to exploit the problem structure and generate a set of non-dominated solutions. In the genetic algorithm we use a special encoding scheme and also a unique strategy – based on the properties of a non-dominated solution – to ensure that all parts of the non-dominated front are explored. The heuristic and the genetic algorithm are compared with a time-indexed integer programming formulation for small and large instances. Results indicate that the both the heuristic and the genetic algorithm provide high solution quality and are computationally efficient. The heuristics proposed also have the potential to be generalized for the problem of interfering job sets involving other bicriteria pairs.     

A constraint programming approach for a batch processing problem with non-identical job sizes

This paper presents a constraint programming approach for a batch processing machine on which a finite number of jobs of non-identical sizes must be scheduled. A parallel batch processing machine can process several jobs simultaneously and the objective is to minimize the maximal lateness. The constraint programming formulation proposed relies on the decomposition of the problem into finding an assignment of the jobs to the batches, and then minimizing the lateness of the batches on a single machine. This formulation is enhanced by a new optimization constraint which is based on a relaxed problem and applies cost-based domain filtering techniques. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of cost-based domain filtering techniques. Comparisons to other exact approaches clearly show the benefits of the proposed approach: it can optimally solve problems that are one order of magnitude greater than those solved by a mathematical formulation or by a branch-and-price.     

Parallel machine scheduling with a common due window

In this paper, we consider a machine scheduling problem where jobs should be completed at times as close as possible to their respective due dates, and hence both earliness and tardiness should be penalized. Specifically, we consider the problem with a set of independent jobs to be processed on several identical parallel machines. All the jobs have a given common due window. If a job is completed within the due window, then there is no penalty. Otherwise, there is either a job-dependent earliness penalty or a job-dependent tardiness penalty depending on whether the job is completed before or after the due window. The objective is to find an optimal schedule with minimum total earliness–tardiness penalty. The problem is known to be NP-hard. We propose a branch and bound algorithm for finding an optimal schedule of the problem. The algorithm is based on the column generation approach in which the problem is first formulated as a set partitioning type formulation and then in each branch and bound iteration the linear relaxation of this formulation is solved by the standard column generation procedure. Our computational experiments show that this algorithm is capable of solving problems with up to 40 jobs and any number of machines within a reasonable computational time.     

V-shape property for job sequences that minimize the expected completion time variance

We consider the problem of sequencing n jobs with random processing time on a single machine so as to minimize the expected variance of job completion times. Our main result is a new sufficient condition for an optimal sequence to be V-shaped in terms of the mean processing times when n ⩾ 3. We show that this condition is satisfied by a wide variety of problem instances, including those in which the processing times follow different patterns of distributions. This result relaxes a condition proposed before.     

Two meta-heuristics for parallel machine scheduling with job splitting to minimize total tardiness

Parallel machine scheduling is a popular research area due to its wide range of potential application areas. This paper focuses on the problem of scheduling n independent jobs to be processed on m identical parallel machines with the aim of minimizing the total tardiness of the jobs considering a job splitting property. It is assumed that a job can be split into sub-jobs and these sub-jobs can be processed independently on parallel machines. We present a mathematical model for this problem. The problem of total tardiness on identical parallel machines is NP-hard. Obtaining an optimal solution for this type of complex, large-sized problem in reasonable computational time by using an optimization solver is extremely difficult. We propose two meta-heuristics: Tabu search and simulated annealing. Computational results are compared on random generated problems with different sizes.     

Accessing feasible space in a generalized job shop scheduling problem with the fuzzy processing times: a fuzzy-neural approach

This paper presents a fuzzy-neural approach for constraint satisfaction of a generalized job shop scheduling problem (GJSSP) fuzzy processing times. Our study is an extension of recently developed research in a GJSSP where the processing time of operations was constant. Our paper assumes that the processing time of jobs is uncertain. The proposed fuzzy-neural approach can be adaptively adjusted with weights of connections based on sequence resource and uncertain processing time constraints of the GJSSP during its processing. The computational results show that the proposed neural approach is able to find good solutions in reasonable time.     

Fuzzy job shop scheduling with lot-sizing

This paper deals with a problem of determining lot-sizes of jobs in a real-world job shop-scheduling in the presence of uncertainty. The main issue discussed in this paper is lot-sizing of jobs. A fuzzy rule-based system is developed which determines the size of lots using the following premise variables: size of the job, the static slack of the job, workload on the shop floor, and the priority of the job. Both premise and conclusion variables are modelled as linguistic variables represented by using fuzzy sets (apart from the priority of the job which is a crisp value). The determined lots’ sizes are input to a fuzzy multi-objective genetic algorithm for job shop scheduling. Imprecise jobs’ processing times and due dates are modelled by using fuzzy sets. The objectives that are used to measure the quality of the generated schedules are average weighted tardiness of jobs, the number of tardy jobs, the total setup time, the total idle time of machines and the total flow time of jobs. The developed algorithm is analysed on real-world data obtained from a printing company.     

Constraint programming for computing non-stationary (R, S) inventory policies

This paper proposes a constraint programming model for computing the finite horizon single-item inventory problem with stochastic demands in discrete time periods with service-level constraints under the non-stationary version of the “periodic review, order-up-to-level” policy (i.e., non-stationary (R, S) or, simply (R_n, S_n)). It is observed that the modeling process is more natural and the required number of variables is smaller compared to the MIP formulation of the same problem. The computational tests show that the CP approach is more tractable than the conventional MIP formulation. Two different domain reduction methods are proposed to improve the computational performance of solution algorithms. The numerical experiments confirmed the effectiveness of these methods.     

A two-machine flow shop scheduling problem with controllable job processing times

The paper deals with a two-machine flow shop scheduling problem in which both the sequence of jobs and their processing times are decision variables. It is assumed that the cost of performing a job is a linear function of its processing time, and the schedule cost to be minimized is the total processing cost plus maximum completion time cost. In is shown that the decision form of this problem is NP-complete, even when the processing times on one machine only are controllable and all the processing cost units are identical. Two heuristic methods for solving the problem are proposed and their worst-case analysis is presented.     

Power-aware scheduling of preemptable jobs on identical parallel processors to minimize makespan

This paper deals with power-aware scheduling of preemptable jobs on identical parallel processors to minimize schedule length when jobs are described by continuous, strictly concave functions relating their processing speed at time t to the amount of power allotted at the moment. Power is a continuous, doubly constrained resource, i.e. both: its availability at time t and consumption over scheduling horizon are constrained. Precedence constraints among jobs are represented by a task-on-arc graph. A methodology based on properties of optimal schedules is presented for solving the problem optimally for a given ordering of nodes in the graph. Heuristics for finding an ordering which leads to possibly short schedules are proposed and examined experimentally.     

工件带安装时间的单机排序问题的列生成算法

在求解大规模NP-困难的最优化问题方法中,列生成技术越来越受到重视.本文研究工件带有与加工次序有关的安装时间的单机排序问题,首先构造它的时间标号模型,结合D-W分解技术和分支定界方法,给出它的列生成算法.其中时间标号模型的线性松弛为原问题提供了很好的下界,然后提出一个近似算法.通过实验数据表明,我们的算法对中等规模的排序问题1|t_(ij),r_j|∑w_jC_j是有效的.     

Using a family of critical ratio-based approaches to minimize the number of tardy jobs in the job shop with sequence dependent setup times

This paper addresses the job shop scheduling problem to minimize the number of tardy jobs, considering the sequence dependent setup time. This problem is taken as a sequencing problem, and a family of approaches with different levels of intricacy is proposed. The simplest form is a critical ratio-based dispatching rule, which leads to satisfactory solutions by taking into account the group information rather than only the individual information of jobs. Then, an enhanced approach consisting of an iterative schedule refining mechanism will be given. Its feature is to iteratively adjust the estimation of the remaining processing times of jobs in a dynamic and operation-specific manner. Finally, a genetic algorithm which takes the dispatching rule and the refining mechanism as the core is proposed. The performance of these approaches is carefully examined by a comprehensive experimental study.     

Learning and forgetting effects on a group scheduling problem

This paper proposes to investigate learning and forgetting effects on the problem of scheduling families of jobs on a single machine to minimize total completion time of jobs. A setup time is incurred whenever the single machine transfers job processing from a family to another family. To analyze the impact of learning and forgetting on this group scheduling problem, we structure three basic models and make some comparisons through computational experiments. The three models, including no forgetting, total forgetting and partial forgetting, assume that the processing time of a job is dependent on its position in a schedule. Some scheduling rules and a lower bound are derived in order to constitute our branch-and-bound algorithm for searching an optimal sequence. In addition, an efficient and simply-structured heuristic is also built to find a near-optimal schedule.