Routing open shop and flow shop scheduling problems

We consider a generalization of the classical open shop and flow shop scheduling problems where the jobs are located at the vertices of an undirected graph and the machines, initially located at the same vertex, have to travel along the graph to process the jobs. The objective is to minimize the makespan. In the tour-version the makespan means the time by which each machine has processed all jobs and returned to the initial location. While in the path-version the makespan represents the maximum completion time of the jobs. We present improved approximation algorithms for various cases of the open shop problem on a general graph, and the tour-version of the two-machine flow shop problem on a tree. Also, we prove that both versions of the latter problem are NP-hard, which answers an open question posed in the literature.     

Outsourcing and scheduling for two-machine ordered flow shop scheduling problems

This paper considers a two-machine ordered flow shop problem, where each job is processed through the in-house system or outsourced to a subcontractor. For in-house jobs, a schedule is constructed and its performance is measured by the makespan. Jobs processed by subcontractors require paying an outsourcing cost. The objective is to minimize the sum of the makespan and the total outsourcing cost. Since this problem is NP-hard, we present an approximation algorithm. Furthermore, we consider three special cases in which job j has a processing time requirement p_j, and machine i a characteristic q_i. The first case assumes the time job j occupies machine i is equal to the processing requirement divided by a characteristic value of machine i, that is, p_j/q_i. The second (third) case assumes that the time job j occupies machine i is equal to the maximum (minimum) of its processing requirement and a characteristic value of the machine, that is, max{p_j, q_i} (min{p_j, q_i}). We show that the first and the second cases are NP-hard and the third case is polynomially solvable.     

Multi-family scheduling in a two-machine reentrant flow shop with setups

This paper considers a two-machine multi-family scheduling problem with reentrant production flows. The problem consists of two machines, M₁ and M₂, and each job has the processing route (M₁, M₂, M₁, M₂). There are identical jobs in the same family and the jobs in the same family are processed in succession. Each machine needs a setup time before the first job in a family is processed. The objective is to minimize the maximum completion time. Examples of such a problem occur in the bridge construction, semiconductor industry and job processing on numerical controlled machines, where they usually require that the jobs are reprocessed once and there are identical jobs in the same family. This problem is shown to be NP-hard. A branch-and-bound algorithm is proposed, and computational experiments are provided.     

Research on permutation flow shop scheduling problems with general position-dependent learning effects

Machine learning exists in many realistic scheduling situations. This study focuses on permutation flow shop scheduling problems, where the actual processing time of a job is defined by a general non-increasing function of its scheduled position, i.e., general position-dependent learning effects. The objective functions are to minimize the total completion time, the makespan, the total weighted completion time, and the total weighted discounted completion time, respectively. To solve these problems, we present approximation algorithms based on the optimal permutations for the corresponding single machine scheduling problems and analyze their worst-case error bound.     

A note on flow shop scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs on no-idle dominant machines

The main results in a recent paper [M. Cheng, S. Sun, L. He, Flow shop scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs on no-idle dominant machines, European Journal of Operational Research 183 (2007) 115–124] are incorrect because job processing times are variable due to deteriorating effect, which is not taken into account by the authors. In this note, we show first by counter-examples that the published results are incorrect, and then we provide corrected results.     

Two-machine flow shop scheduling problem with an outsourcing option

We consider a two-machine flow shop problem in which each job is processed through an in-house system or outsourced to a subcontractor. A schedule is established for the in-house jobs, and performance is measured by the makespan. Jobs processed by subcontractors require paying an outsourcing cost. The objective is to minimize the sum of the makespan and total outsourcing costs. We show that the problem is NP-hard in the ordinary sense. We consider a special case in which each job has a processing requirement, and each machine a characteristic value. In this case, the time a job occupies a machine is equal to the job’s processing requirement plus a setup time equal to the characteristic value of that machine. We introduce some optimality conditions and present a polynomial-time algorithm to solve the special case.     

Production scheduling with applications in the printing industry

This paper presents a technique for the solution of scheduling problems encountered in a printing company that can be applied to a range of practical industrial problems. The aim of the research was to develop a due date scheduling algorithm within the framework of the scheduling system already in use by the company. The objective was to enable jobs to be scheduled as close to their due dates as possible, while ensuring that the resultant schedule was feasible with respect to work centre capacities and earliest start date constraints.     

A note on the complexity of flow shop scheduling with transportation constraints

This note investigates two-machine flow shop scheduling with transportation constraints to minimize makespan. Recently, Soukhal et al. [A. Soukhal, A. Oulamara, P. Martineau, Complexity of flow shop scheduling problems with transportation constraints, European Journal of Operational Research 161 (2005) 32–41] proved that this problem is strongly NP-hard when the capacity of the truck is limited to two or three parts. The considered problem with blocking constraints is also proved to be strongly NP-hard by Soukhal et al. Unfortunately, their proofs contain mistakes. We point out their proofs’ invalidity and then show that, when the capacity of the truck is limited to two parts, the problem is binary NP-hard, and when the capacity of the truck is limited to three parts the problem is strongly NP-hard even if the jobs have a common processing time on machine one and all jobs have the same transportation time. We show also that the last result can be generalized to any fixed c (c ? 3) parts.     

Bounding strategies for the hybrid flow shop scheduling problem

In this paper, we investigate new lower and upper bounds for the multiple-center hybrid flow shop scheduling problem. We propose a family of center-based lower bounds as well as a destructive lower bound that is based on the concept of revised energetic reasoning. Also, we describe an optimization-based heuristic that requires iteratively solving a sequence of parallel machine problems with heads and tails. We present the results of extensive computational experiments that provide evidence that the proposed bounding procedures consistently improve the best existing ones.     

Heuristic constructive algorithms for open shop scheduling to minimize mean flow time

In this paper, we consider the problem of scheduling n jobs on m machines in an open shop environment so that the sum of completion times or mean flow time becomes minimal. For this strongly NP-hard problem, we develop and discuss different constructive heuristic algorithms. Extensive computational results are presented for problems with up to 50 jobs and 50 machines, respectively. The quality of the solutions is evaluated by a lower bound for the corresponding preemptive open shop problem and by an alternative estimate of mean flow time. We observe that the recommendation of an appropriate constructive algorithm strongly depends on the ratio n/m.     

Two-machine flow shop scheduling problems with no-wait jobs

In this paper we provide a fairly complete complexity classification of various versions of the two-machine permutation flow shop scheduling problem to minimize the makespan in which some of the jobs have to be processed with no-wait in process. For some version, we offer a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme and a -approximation algorithm.     

Hybrid genetic algorithm for permutation flowshop scheduling problems with total flowtime minimization

In this paper, a HGA (hybrid genetic algorithm) is proposed for permutation flowshop scheduling problems (PFSP) with total flowtime minimization, which are known to be NP-hard. One of the chromosomes in the initial population is constructed by a suitable heuristic and the others are yielded randomly. An artificial chromosome is generated by a weighted simple mining gene structure, with which a new crossover operator is presented. Additionally, two effective heuristics are adopted as local search to improve all generated chromosomes in each generation. The HGA is compared with one of the most effective heuristics and a recent meta-heuristic on 120 benchmark instances. Experimental results show that the HGA outperforms the other two algorithms for all cases. Furthermore, HGA obtains 115 best solutions for the benchmark instances, 92 of which are newly discovered.     

Two-machine flow shop total tardiness scheduling problem with deteriorating jobs

This paper studies a two-machine scheduling problem with deteriorating jobs which their processing times depend on their waiting time. We develop a branch and bound algorithm to minimize the total tardiness criteria. A lower bound, several dominance properties and an initial upper bound derived from a heuristic algorithm are used to increase the speed of branch and bound algorithm and decrease its required memory space. Computational results are presented to evaluate effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithms.     

Flow shop scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs on no-idle dominant machines

In this paper, we study the permutation flow shop scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs on no-idle dominant machines. The objective is to minimize one of the two regular performance criteria, namely, makespan and total completion time. For each objective, the following dominant machines constraint: idm, ddm, idm–ddm and ddm–idm are considered. We present a polynomial time solution algorithm for each of the four cases.     

An approximation algorithm for the m-machine permutation flow shop scheduling problem with controllable processing times

The paper deals with the m-machine permutation flow shop scheduling problem in which job processing times, along with a processing order, are decision variables. It is assumed that the cost of processing a job on each machine is a linear function of its processing time and the overall schedule cost to be minimized is the total processing cost plus maximum completion time cost. A algorithm for the problem with m = 2 is provided; the best approximation algorithm until now has a worst-case performance ratio equal to . An extension to the m-machine (m ≥2) permutation flow shop problem yields an approximation algorithm with a worst-case bound equal to

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, where is the worst-case performance ratio of a procedure used, in the proposed algorithm, for solving the (pure) sequencing problem. Moreover, examples which achieve this bound for = 1 are also presented.     

Approximation algorithms for two-machine flow shop scheduling with batch setup times

In many practical situations, batching of similar jobs to avoid setups is performed while constructing a schedule. This paper addresses the problem of non-preemptively scheduling independent jobs in a two-machine flow shop with the objective of minimizing the makespan. Jobs are grouped into batches. A sequence independent batch setup time on each machine is required before the first job is processed, and when a machine switches from processing a job in some batch to a job of another batch. Besides its practical interest, this problem is a direct generalization of the classical two-machine flow shop problem with no grouping of jobs, which can be solved optimally by Johnson's well-known algorithm. The problem under investigation is known to be NP-hard. We propose two O(n logn) time heuristic algorithms. The first heuristic, which creates a schedule with minimum total setup time by forcing all jobs in the same batch to be sequenced in adjacent positions, has a worst-case performance ratio of 3/2. By allowing each batch to be split into at most two sub-batches, a second heuristic is developed which has an improved worst-case performance ratio of 4/3. © 1998 The Mathematical Programming Society, Inc. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.     

New multi-objective method to solve reentrant hybrid flow shop scheduling problem

This paper focuses on the multi-objective resolution of a reentrant hybrid flow shop scheduling problem (RHFS). In our case the two objectives are: the maximization of the utilization rate of the bottleneck and the minimization of the maximum completion time. This problem is solved with a new multi-objective genetic algorithm called L-NSGA which uses the Lorenz dominance relationship. The results of L-NSGA are compared with NSGA2, SPEA2 and an exact method. A stochastic model of the system is proposed and used with a discrete event simulation module. A test protocol is applied to compare the four methods on various configurations of the problem. The comparison is established using two standard multi-objective metrics. The Lorenz dominance relationship provides a stronger selection than the Pareto dominance and gives better results than the latter. The computational tests show that L-NSGA provides better solutions than NSGA2 and SPEA2; moreover, its solutions are closer to the optimal front. The efficiency of our method is verified in an industrial field-experiment.     

Two-machine flow shop scheduling problems with minimal and maximal delays

In this paper, we show lower bounds and upper bounds for the F2/max delay/Cmax problem. These bounds allow us to build a branch-and-bound procedure. Computational experiments reveal that these bounds and the associated branch-and-bound procedure are efficient. Received: May 2004 / Revised version: February 2005 AMS classification: 90B35, 90C57     

Enhanced migrating birds optimization algorithm for the permutation flow shop problem with sequence dependent setup times

This paper presents an enhanced migrating bird optimization (MBO) algorithm and a new heuristic for solving a scheduling problem. The proposed approaches are applied to a permutation flowshop with sequence dependent setup times and the objective of minimizing the makespan. In order to augment the MBOs intensification capacity, an original problem specific heuristic is introduced. An adapted neighborhood, a tabu list, a restart mechanism and an original process for selecting a new leader also improved the MBO’s behavior. Using benchmarks from the literature, the resulting enhanced MBO (EMBO) gives state-of-the-art results when compared with other algorithms reference. A statistical analysis of the numerical experiments confirms the relative efficiency and effectiveness of both EMBO and the new heuristic.     

具有机器适用限制的分布式置换流水车间问题的模型与算法

考虑具有机器适用限制的多个不同置换流水车间的调度问题. 机器适用限制指的是每个工件只能分配到其可加工工厂集合. 所有置换流水车间拥有的机器数相同但是具有不同的加工能力. 首先, 针对该问题建立了基于位置的混合整数线性规划模型; 进而, 对一般情况和三种特殊情况给出了具有较小近似比的多项式时间算法. 其次, 基于NEH方法提出了启发式算法NEHg, 并给出了以NEHg为上界的分支定界算法. 最后, 通过例子说明了NEHg启发式算法和分支定界算法的计算过程, 并进行大量的实验将NEHg与NEH算法结果进行比较, 从而验证了NEHg算法的有效性.