1,353 research outputs found
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
Scheduling Bidirectional Traffic on a Path
We study the fundamental problem of scheduling bidirectional traffic along a
path composed of multiple segments. The main feature of the problem is that
jobs traveling in the same direction can be scheduled in quick succession on a
segment, while jobs in opposing directions cannot cross a segment at the same
time. We show that this tradeoff makes the problem significantly harder than
the related flow shop problem, by proving that it is NP-hard even for identical
jobs. We complement this result with a PTAS for a single segment and
non-identical jobs. If we allow some pairs of jobs traveling in different
directions to cross a segment concurrently, the problem becomes APX-hard even
on a single segment and with identical jobs. We give polynomial algorithms for
the setting with restricted compatibilities between jobs on a single and any
constant number of segments, respectively
Single machine scheduling with job-dependent machine deterioration
We consider the single machine scheduling problem with job-dependent machine
deterioration. In the problem, we are given a single machine with an initial
non-negative maintenance level, and a set of jobs each with a non-preemptive
processing time and a machine deterioration. Such a machine deterioration
quantifies the decrement in the machine maintenance level after processing the
job. To avoid machine breakdown, one should guarantee a non-negative
maintenance level at any time point; and whenever necessary, a maintenance
activity must be allocated for restoring the machine maintenance level. The
goal of the problem is to schedule the jobs and the maintenance activities such
that the total completion time of jobs is minimized. There are two variants of
maintenance activities: in the partial maintenance case each activity can be
allocated to increase the machine maintenance level to any level not exceeding
the maximum; in the full maintenance case every activity must be allocated to
increase the machine maintenance level to the maximum. In a recent work, the
problem in the full maintenance case has been proven NP-hard; several special
cases of the problem in the partial maintenance case were shown solvable in
polynomial time, but the complexity of the general problem is left open. In
this paper we first prove that the problem in the partial maintenance case is
NP-hard, thus settling the open problem; we then design a -approximation
algorithm.Comment: 15 page
Efficient heuristics for the hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with missing operations
In this paper, we address the hybrid flowshop scheduling problem for makespan minimisation. More specifically, we are interested in the special case where there are missing operations, i.e. some stages are skipped, a condition inspired in a realistic problem found in a plastic manufacturer. The main contribution of our paper is twofold. On the one hand we carry out a computational analysis to study the hardness of the hybrid flowshop scheduling problem with missing operations as compared to the classical hybrid flowshop problem. On the other hand, we propose a set of heuristics that captures some special features of the missing operations and compare these algorithms with already existing heuristics for the classical hybrid flowshop, and for the hybrid flowshop problem with missing operations. The extensive computational experience carried out shows that our proposal outperforms existing methods for the problem, indicating that it is possible to improve the makespan by interacting with the jobs with missing operations.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI2016-80750-
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