Parameterized complexity of machine scheduling: 15 open problems

Machine scheduling problems are a long-time key domain of algorithms and complexity research. A novel approach to machine scheduling problems are fixed-parameter algorithms. To stimulate this thriving research direction, we propose 15 open questions in this area whose resolution we expect to lead to the discovery of new approaches and techniques both in scheduling and parameterized complexity theory.Comment: Version accepted to Computers & Operations Researc

Comparative Analysis of Metaheuristic Approaches for Makespan Minimization for No Wait Flow Shop Scheduling Problem

This paper provides comparative analysis of various metaheuristic approaches for m-machine no wait flow shop scheduling (NWFSS) problem with makespan as an optimality criterion. NWFSS problem is NP hard and brute force method unable to find the solutions so approximate solutions are found with metaheuristic algorithms. The objective is to find out the scheduling sequence of jobs to minimize total completion time. In order to meet the objective criterion, existing metaheuristic techniques viz. Tabu Search (TS), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are implemented for small and large sized problems and effectiveness of these techniques are measured with statistical metric

A survey of scheduling problems with setup times or costs

Author name used in this publication: C. T. NgAuthor name used in this publication: T. C. E. Cheng2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Heuristic for flow shop sequencing with separated and sequence independent setup times

This paper deals with the permutation flow shop scheduling problem with separated and sequence-independent machine setup times. A heuristic method with the objective of minimizing the total time to complete the schedule is introduced. The proposed heuristic is based on a structural property of this scheduling problem, which provides an upper bound on the idle time of the machines between the completion of the setup task and the beginning of job processing. Experimental results show that the new heuristic outperforms two existing ones.(CNPq) National Council for Scientific and Technological Developmen

An approach for the production scheduling problem when lot streaming is enabled at the operational level

By means of the present work, the production scheduling and the lot streaming problems are simultaneously addressed at flexible manufacturing environments. The proposal is based on a Constraint Programming (CP) formulation that can efficiently tackle the scheduling of manufacturing operations and the splitting of lots into smaller sublots. The approach is capable to define the number of sublots for each lot and the number of parts belonging to each sublot, as well as the assignment of the operations on sublots to machines, with their corresponding start and completion times. The CP model can be easily adapted to cope with different problem issues and several operational policies, which constitutes the main novelty of the contribution. A set of case studies were solved in order to validate the proposal and good quality solutions were found when minimizing the makespan.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ