Improved algorithms for single machine scheduling with release dates and rejections

We consider bi-criteria scheduling problems on a single machine with release dates and rejections and both the makespan and the total rejection cost have to be minimized. We consider three scenarios: (1) minimize the sum of the two objectives: makespan and total rejection cost, (2) minimize the makespan subject to a bound on the total rejection cost and (3) minimize the total rejection cost subject to a bound on the makespan. We summarize the results obtained in the literature and provide for several cases improved approximation algorithms and FPTASs.     

含有批处理机的三机流水作业加工总长问题的计算复杂性

研究含有批处理机的三台机器流水作业加工总长问题的计算复杂性.不仅考虑了批处理机容量有限的情形,还考虑了批处理机容量无限的情形.证明了当第二台机器是批处理机、其余两台机器是单机时,该问题是NP困难的.至此,含有批处理机的三台机器流水作业加工总长问题在所有情形下的计算复杂性得到了解决.     

Single-machine group scheduling with time-dependent learning effect and position-based setup time learning effect

As to learning effect, it may be more appropriate to assume that position-based learning takes place during machine setups only, while sum-of-processing-time-based learning occurs in considering the experience that workers have gained from producing jobs. Thus, in this paper, we consider sum-of-processing-time-based learning on job processing time and position-based learning on setup time in single-machine group scheduling problems. The objectives are to minimize the makespan and the total completion time, respectively. We provide two polynomial time algorithms to solve the makespan minimization problems. On the other hand, we also provide two polynomial time algorithms to solve the total completion time minimization problems under certain conditions.     

Efficient heuristics for flowshop sequencing with the objectives of makespan and flowtime minimisation

In this paper we analyse the performance of flowshop sequencing heuristics with respect to the objectives of makespan and flowtime minimisation. For flowtime minimisation, we propose the strategy employed by the NEH heuristic to construct partial solutions. Results show that this approach outperforms the common fast heuristics for flowtime minimisation while performing similarly or slightly worse than others which, on reward, prove to be much more CPU time-consuming. Additionally, the suggested approach is well balanced with respect to makespan and flowtime minimisation. Based on the previous results, two algorithms are proposed for the sequencing problem with multiple objectives – makespan and flowtime minimisation. These algorithms provide the decision maker with a set of heuristically efficient solutions such that he/she may choose the most suitable sequence for a given ratio between costs associated with makespan and those assigned to flowtime. Computational experience shows both algorithms to perform better than the current heuristics designed for the two-criteria problem.     

Stochastic scheduling with optimal customer service

Existing research in stochastic scheduling often ignores the need to achieve high service levels. Optimality is usually defined in terms of minimizing the expected makespan, with the intent to increase the expected utilization of the facility. We argue that this does not address the full ramifications of stochastic variation. Instead, we should minimize our total cost, including losses due to the variation. This, we show, leads to focusing on optimal service level. Furthermore, we show how to compare the mean and the standard deviation of the makespan directly. While this method applies for any distribution, we demonstrate it specifically for the important special case where the makespan distribution is (at least approximately) normal. Finally, we show by simulation (i) that it is very important to take into account that high variation in individual operations causes increases both in the mean and the variance of the final makespan; and (ii) that using the normal distribution results is a good approximation.     

Minimizing makespan on a single machine subject to random breakdowns

We investigate optimal sequencing policies for the expected makespan problem with an unreliable machine, where jobs have to be reprocessed in their entirety if preemptions occur because of breakdowns. We identify a class of uptime distributions under which LPT minimizes expected makespan.     

工件加工时间增加的排序问题(1‖Cmax)

讨论了工件加工时间随工件开工时间线性增加的排序问题,考虑的目标函数是最大完工时间,证明了加工时间是简单线性增加情况下最大完工时间问题是多项式时间可解的,对于加工时间是一般线性增加情况,研究了最优排序的性质,同时证明了两种特殊情况下最大完工时间问题也是多项式时间可解的。     

Project Scheduling with Multiple Modes: A Genetic Algorithm

In this paper we consider the resource-constrained project scheduling problem with multiple execution modes for each activity and makespan minimization as objective. We present a new genetic algorithm approach to solve this problem. The genetic encoding is based on a precedence feasible list of activities and a mode assignment. After defining the related crossover, mutation, and selection operators, we describe a local search extension which is employed to improve the schedules found by the basic genetic algorithm. Finally, we present the results of our thorough computational study. We determine the best among several different variants of our genetic algorithm and compare it to four other heuristics that have recently been proposed in the literature. The results that have been obtained using a standard set of instances show that the new genetic algorithm outperforms the other heuristic procedures with regard to a lower average deviation from the optimal makespan.     

Little-Preemptive Scheduling on Unrelated Processors

We consider the preemptive scheduling of n independent jobs on m unrelated machines to minimize the makespan. Preemptive schedules with at most 2m–3 preemptions are built, which are optimal when the maximal job processing time is no more than the optimal schedule makespan. We further restrict the maximal job processing time and obtain optimal schedules with at most m–1 preemptions. This is better than the earlier known best bound of 4m ²–5m+2 on the total number of preemptions. Without the restriction on the maximal job processing time, our (2m–3)-preemptive schedules have a makespan which is no more than either of the following two magnitudes: (a) the maximum between the longest job processing time and the optimal preemptive makespan, and (b) the optimal nonpreemptive makespan. Our (m–1)-preemptive schedules might be at most twice worse than an optimal one.     

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.     

自由作业稠密时间表的性质研究

稠密时间表作为自由作业问题的近似解,其加工总长与最优值之比具有上界2-1/m(m为机器数),是一个尚未证明的猜想.利用组合方法证明了稠密时间表性能比猜想成立的一个充分条件.利用该条件及有关文献的结果,给出了机器数不超过7的自由作业稠密时间表性能比猜想的证明.     

Scheduling problems in master-slave model

We consider scheduling problems in the master slave model, which was introduced by Sahni in 1996. The goal is to minimize the makespan and the total completion time. It has been shown that the problem of minimizing makespan is NP-hard. Sahni and Vairaktarakis developed some approximation algorithms to generate schedules whose makespan is at most constant times the optimal. In this paper, we show that the problem of minimizing total completion time is NP-hard in the strong sense. Then we develop algorithms to generate schedules whose total completion time and makespan are both bounded by some constants times their optimal values. Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation through grant DMI-0300156.     

Stochastic makespan minimization in structured set systems

Mathematical Programming - We study stochastic combinatorial optimization problems where the objective is to minimize the expected maximum load (a.k.a. the makespan). In this framework, we have a...     

有到达时间的三机器自由作业稠密时间表性能比

对于三机器自由作业加工总长问题，如果工件仅有两个到达时间，我们证明了稠密时间表的性能比为5/3。     

Optimal policies in stochastic shop scheduling

In this paper a survey is presented of some of the recent results in stochastic open shop, flow shop and job shop scheduling. The distributions of the processing times of the jobs are known in advance, but the actual processing times are not known in advance. The jobs may have due dates. Optimal preemptive and nonpreemptive policies are determined for the minimization of various objective functions, such as the expected makespan, the expected flow time and the expected number of late jobs. The effect of various degrees of dependence between the processing times of any given job on the various machines is investigated. Under given conditions bounds are obtained for the expected makespan in the different models.Partially supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), under grant ECS-8115344 with the Georgia Institute of Technology.     

Johnson’s problem with stochastic processing times and optimal service level

Theoretical results about Johnson’s problem with stochastic processing times are few. In general, just finding the expected makespan of a given sequence is already difficult, even for discrete processing time distributions. Furthermore, to obtain optimal service level we need to compute the entire distribution of the makespan. Therefore the use of heuristics and simulation is justified. We show that pursuing the minimal expected makespan by two heuristics is empirically effective for obtaining excellent overall distributions. The first is to use Johnson’s rule on the means. The second is based on pair-switching and converges to some known stochastically optimal solutions when they apply. We show that the first heuristic is asymptotically optimal under mild conditions. We also investigate the effect of sequencing on the makespan variance.     

具有时间与位置相关及维修限制的单机排序问题

考虑时间和位置相关的单机排序问题, 且机器具有退化的维修限制. 工件的实际加工时间是工件加工位置相关的函数, 目标函数为最大完工时间和总完工时间两个函数, 并利用匹配算法给出这两个问题的多项式时间算法. 最后得出工件满足一定条件时最大完工时间满足组平衡规则.     

Bicriteria optimisation of the makespan and mean flowtime on two identical parallel machines

This paper proposes an efficient algorithm to solve optimally the bicriteria problem of minimising the weighted sum of makespan and mean flowtime on two identical parallel machines. The proposed algorithm allows the decision-maker to minimise makespan and flowtime simultaneously according to his or her relative preference as reflected through the weights placed on makespan and flowtime. Our computational results show that the proposed algorithm can solve optimally problem instances with a large number of jobs in a reasonably small amount of CPU time.     

需要安装时间的平行多功能机排序问题的启发式算法

考虑需要安装时间的平行多功能机排序问题。在该模型中,每个工件对应机器集合的一个子集,其只能在这个子集中的任一台机器上加工,称这个子集为该工件的加工集合;工件分组,同组工件具有相同的加工时间和加工集合,不同组中的工件在同一台机器上连续加工需要安装时间,目标函数为极小化最大完工时间。对该问题NP-难的一般情况设计启发式算法:首先按照特定的规则将所有工件组都整组地安排到各台机器上,然后通过在各机器间转移工件不断改进当前最大完工时间。通过与下界的比较检验算法的性能,大量的计算实验表明,算法是实用而有效的。     

A note on makespan minimization in two-stage flexible flow shops with uniform machines

We consider the two-stage flexible flow shop makespan minimization problem with uniform parallel machines. Soewandi and Elmaghraby [Soewandi, H., Elmaghraby, S., 2003. Sequencing on two-stage hybrid flowshops with uniform machines to minimize makespan. IIE Transaction 35, 467–477] developed a heuristic (S–E) and derived a machine speed-dependent worst-case ratio bound for it. We point out that this bound works well when the uniform machines have approximately equal speeds but is not indicative of the performance of the S–E heuristic when the machine speeds are in a wide range. Motivated by this observation, we propose an alternative tight machine-speed dependent worst-case bound for the S–E heuristic that works well when the machine speeds vary significantly. We then combine the two speed-dependent ratio bounds into a speed-independent bound. Our findings facilitate the narrowing of the gap between experimental performance and worst-case bound for the S–E heuristic.