A new Lagrangian relaxation algorithm for hybrid flowshop scheduling to minimize total weighted completion time

We investigate the problem of scheduling n jobs in s-stage hybrid flowshops with parallel identical machines at each stage. The objective is to find a schedule that minimizes the sum of weighted completion times of the jobs. This problem has been proven to be NP-hard. In this paper, an integer programming formulation is constructed for the problem. A new Lagrangian relaxation algorithm is presented in which precedence constraints are relaxed to the objective function by introducing Lagrangian multipliers, unlike the commonly used method of relaxing capacity constraints. In this way the relaxed problem can be decomposed into machine type subproblems, each of which corresponds to a specific stage. A dynamic programming algorithm is designed for solving parallel identical machine subproblems where jobs may have negative weights. The multipliers are then iteratively updated along a subgradient direction. The new algorithm is computationally compared with the commonly used Lagrangian relaxation algorithms which, after capacity constraints are relaxed, decompose the relaxed problem into job level subproblems and solve the subproblems by using the regular and speed-up dynamic programming algorithms, respectively. Numerical results show that the new Lagrangian relaxation method produces better schedules in much shorter computation time, especially for large-scale problems.     

可重入混合流水车间调度的拉格朗日松弛算法

为了有效提升多重入车间的生产效率,考虑了实际生产中检查和修复过程对于逐层制造的可重入生产系统的重要性,提出了基于拉格朗日松弛算法的可重入混合流水车间的调度方法.首先进行了问题域的描述,并在此基础上以最小化加权完成时间为调度目标,建立数学规划模型.针对该调度问题提出了基于松弛机器能力约束的拉格朗日松弛算法,使松弛问题分解成工件级子问题,并使用动态规划方法建立递归公式,求解工件级子问题.随后,使用次梯度算法求解拉格朗日对偶问题.最后,对各种不同问题规模进行了仿真实验,结果表明,所提出的调度算法能够在合理的时间内获得满意的近优解.     

Scheduling a hybrid flowshop with batch production at the last stage

In this paper, we address the problem of scheduling n$n$ jobs in an s$s$-stage hybrid flowshop with batch production at the last stage with the objective of minimizing a given criterion with respect to the completion time. The batch production at stage s$s$ is referred to as serial batches by Hopp and Spearman where the processing time of a batch is equal to the sum of the processing times of all jobs included in it. This paper establishes an integer programming model and proposes a batch decoupling based Lagrangian relaxation algorithm for this problem. In this algorithm, after capacity constraints are relaxed by Lagrangian multipliers, the relaxed problem is decomposed based on a batch, unlike the commonly used job decoupling, so that it can be decomposed into batch-level subproblems, each for a specific batch. An improved forward dynamic programming algorithm is then designed for solving these subproblems where all operations within a batch form an in-tree structure and the precedence relations exist not only between the operations of a job but between the jobs in this batch at the last stage. A computational comparison is provided for the developed algorithm and the commonly used Lagrangian relaxation algorithm which, after capacity constraints and precedence relations within a batch are relaxed, decomposes the relaxed problem into job-level subproblems and solves the subproblems by using dynamic programming. Numerical results show that the designed Lagrangian relaxation method provides much better schedules and converges faster for small to medium sized problems, especially for larger sized problems.     

Modeling realistic hybrid flexible flowshop scheduling problems

This paper aims to contribute to the recent research efforts to bridge the gap between the theory and the practice of scheduling by modelizing a realistic manufacturing environment and analyzing the effect of the inclusion of several characteristics in the problem formulation. There are several constraints and characteristics that affect the scheduling operations at companies. While these constraints are many times tackled in the literature, they are seldom considered together inside the same problem formulation. We propose a formulation along with a mixed integer modelization and some heuristics for the problem of scheduling n jobs on m stages where at each stage we have a known number of unrelated machines. The jobs might skip stages and, therefore, we have what we call a hybrid flexible flowshop problem. We also consider per machine sequence-dependent setup times which can be anticipatory and non-anticipatory along with machine lags, release dates for machines, machine eligibility and precedence relationships among jobs. Manufacturing environments like this appear in sectors like food processing, ceramic tile manufacturing and several others. The optimization criterion considered is the minimization of the makespan. The MIP model and the heuristics proposed are tested against a comprehensive benchmark and the results evaluated by advanced statistical tools that make use of decision trees and experimental designs. The results allow us to identify the constraints that increase the difficulty.     

Real-time scheduling for hybrid flowshop in ubiquitous manufacturing environment

This paper discusses the implementation of RFID technologies, which enable the shop floor visibility and reduce uncertainties in the real-time scheduling for hybrid flowshop (HFS) production. In the real-time HFS environment, the arriving of new jobs is dynamic, while the processes in work stages are not continuous. The decision makers in shop floor level and stage level have different objectives. Therefore, classical off-line HFS scheduling approaches cannot be used under these situations. In this research, two major measures are taken to deal with these specific real-time features. Firstly, a ubiquitous manufacturing (UM) environment is created by deploying advanced wireless devices into value-adding points for the collection and synchronization of real-time shop floor data. Secondly, a multi-period hierarchical scheduling (MPHS) mechanism is developed to divide the planning time horizon into multiple shorter periods. The shop floor manager and stage managers can hierarchically make decisions for their own objectives. Finally, the proposed MPHS mechanism is illustrated by a numerical case study.     

带运输考虑的多阶段动态可重入混合流水车间调度

可重入混合流水车间调度允许一个工件多次进入某些加工阶段,它广泛出现在许多工业制造过程中,如半导体制造、印刷电路板制造等.本文研究了带运输时间的多阶段动态可重入混合流水车间问题,目标是最小化总加权完成时间.针对该问题,建立了整数规划模型,进而基于工件解耦方式提出了两种改进的拉格朗日松弛(LR)算法.在这些算法中,设计了动态规划的改进策略以加速工件级子问题的求解,提出了异步次梯度法以得到有效的乘子更新方向.测试结果说明了所提出的两种改进算法在解的质量和运行时间方面均优于常规LR算法,两种算法都能在可接受的计算时间内得到较好的近优解.     

A heuristic for job shop scheduling to minimize total weighted tardiness

This paper considers the job shop scheduling problem to minimize the total weighted tardiness with job-specific due dates and delay penalties, and a heuristic algorithm based on the tree search procedure is developed for solving the problem. A certain job shop scheduling to minimize the maximum tardiness subject to fixed sub-schedules is solved at each node of the search tree, and the successor nodes are generated, where the sub-schedules of the operations are fixed. Thus, a schedule is obtained at each node, and the sub-optimum solution is determined among the obtained schedules. Computational results on some 10 jobs and 10 machines problems and 15 jobs and 15 machines problems show that the proposed algorithm can find the sub-optimum solutions with a little computation time.     

冷链物流越库调度的拉格朗日松弛算法

为了提高冷链物流的运输效率,解决越库在冷链物流中的应用问题,提出了基于拉格朗日松弛算法的冷链物流的越库调度方法.首先进行了问题域的描述并做出了具体假设,基于问题域以最小化卡车等待时间和越库内部运输成本为目标,建立越库调度的整数规划数学模型.然后,提出了针对越库调度模型的拉格朗日松弛算法,松弛复杂约束后根据决策变量将松弛问题分解为若干子问题,采用次梯度算法求解松弛模型.最后,对各种不同规模的越库模型进行仿真实验,并与传统的贪婪算法进行对比,结果表明,所提出的调度算法适用于问题的求解,并可以在较短时间内获得良好的近优解.     

A Lagrangian approach to single-machine scheduling problems with two competing agents

In this paper, we develop branch-and-bound algorithms for several hard, two-agent scheduling problems, i.e., problems in which each agent has an objective function which depends on the completion times of its jobs only. Our bounding approach is based on the fact that, for all problems considered, the Lagrangian dual gives a good bound and can be solved exactly in strongly polynomial time. The problems addressed here consist in minimizing the total weighted completion time of the jobs of agent A, subject to a bound on the cost function of agent B, which may be: (i) total weighted completion time, (ii) maximum lateness, (iii) maximum completion time. An extensive computational experience shows the effectiveness of the approach.     

A tabu search heuristic for the hybrid flowshop scheduling with finite intermediate buffers

This paper investigates the hybrid flowshop scheduling with finite intermediate buffers, whose objective is to minimize the sum of weighted completion time of all jobs. Since this problem is very complex and has been proven strongly NP-hard, a tabu search heuristic is proposed. In this heuristic there are two main features. One is that a scatter search mechanism is incorporated to improve the diversity of the search procedure. And the other is that a permutation of N jobs representing their processing order in the first stage instead of a complex complete schedule is used to denote a solution. Computational experiments on randomly generated instances with different structures show that the proposed tabu search heuristic can provide good solutions compared to both the lower bounds and the algorithm proposed for this problem in a lately published literature.     

An exact algorithm for the single-machine total weighted tardiness problem with sequence-dependent setup times

This study proposes an exact algorithm for the single-machine total weighted tardiness problem with sequence-dependent setup times. The algorithm is an extension of the authors' previous algorithm for the single-machine scheduling problem without setup times, which is based on the SSDP (Successive Sublimation Dynamic Programming) method. In the first stage of the algorithm, the conjugate subgradient algorithm or the column generation algorithm is applied to a Lagrangian relaxation of the original problem to adjust multipliers. Then, in the second stage, constraints are successively added to the relaxation until the gap between lower and upper bounds becomes zero. The relaxation is solved by dynamic programming and unnecessary dynamic programming states are eliminated to suppress the increase of computation time and memory space. In this study a branching scheme is integrated into the algorithm to manage to solve hard instances. The proposed algorithm is applied to benchmark instances in the literature and almost all of them are optimally solved.     

A memetic algorithm for the re-entrant permutation flowshop scheduling problem to minimize the makespan

A common assumption in the classical permutation flowshop scheduling model is that each job is processed on each machine at most once. However, this assumption does not hold for a re-entrant flowshop in which a job may be operated by one or more machines many times. Given that the re-entrant permutation flowshop scheduling problem to minimize the makespan is very complex, we adopt the CPLEX solver and develop a memetic algorithm (MA) to tackle the problem. We conduct computational experiments to test the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and compare it with two existing heuristics. The results show that CPLEX can solve mid-size problem instances in a reasonable computing time, and the proposed MA is effective in treating the problem and outperforms the two existing heuristics.     

Single CNC machine scheduling with controllable processing times to minimize total weighted tardiness

Advanced manufacturing technologies, such as CNC machines, require significant investments, but also offer new capabilities to the manufacturers. One of the important capabilities of a CNC machine is the controllable processing times. By using this capability, the due date requirements of customers can be satisfied much more effectively. Processing times of the jobs on a CNC machine can be easily controlled via machining conditions such that they can be increased or decreased at the expense of tooling cost. Since scheduling decisions are very sensitive to the processing times, we solve the process planning and scheduling problems simultaneously. In this study, we consider the problem of scheduling a set of jobs on a single CNC machine to minimize the sum of total weighted tardiness, tooling and machining costs. We formulated the joint problem, which is NP-hard since the total weighted tardiness problem (with fixed processing times) is strongly NP-hard alone, as a nonlinear mixed integer program. We proposed a DP-based heuristic to solve the problem for a given sequence and designed a local search algorithm that uses it as a base heuristic.     

Two-machine flowshop scheduling with truncated learning to minimize the total completion time

Scheduling with learning effects has received a lot of research attention lately. However, the flowshop setting is relatively unexplored. On the other hand, the actual processing time of a job under an uncontrolled learning effect will drop to zero precipitously as the number of jobs increases. This is rather absurd in reality. Motivated by these observations, we consider a two-machine flowshop scheduling problem in which the actual processing time of a job in a schedule is a function of the job’s position in the schedule and a control parameter of the learning function. The objective is to minimize the total completion time. We develop a branch-and-bound and three simulated annealing algorithms to solve the problem. Computational results show that the proposed algorithms are efficient in producing near-optimal solutions.     

A two-stage hybrid flowshop scheduling problem with a function constraint and unrelated alternative machines

This article addresses a two-stage hybrid flowshop scheduling problem with unrelated alternative machines. The problem to be studied has m unrelated alternative machines at the first machine center followed by a second machine center with a common processing machine in the system. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the system. For the processing of any job, it is assumed that the operation can be partially substituted by other machines in the first center, depending on its machining constraints. Such scheduling problems occur in certain practical applications such as semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, airplane engine production, and petrochemical production. We demonstrate that the addressed problem is NP-hard and then provide some heuristic algorithms to solve the problem efficiently. The experimental results show that the combination of the modified Johnson's rule and the First-Fit rule provides the best solutions within all proposed heuristics.Scope and purpose     

Three scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs to minimize the total completion time

In this paper, three scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs to minimize the total completion time on a single machine are investigated. By a deteriorating job, we mean that the processing time of the job is a function of its execution start time. The three problems correspond to three different decreasing linear functions, whose increasing counterparts have been studied in the literature. Some basic properties of the three problems are proved. Based on these properties, two of the problems are solved in O(nlogn) time, where n is the number of jobs. A pseudopolynomial time algorithm is constructed to solve the third problem using dynamic programming. Finally, a comparison between the problems with job processing times being decreasing and increasing linear functions of their start times is presented, which shows that the decreasing and increasing linear models of job processing times seem to be closely related to each other.     

装配线物料搬运的拉格朗日松弛算法

为提高汽车制造企业混流装配线的运行效益,提出了基于看板模型的多封闭循环路径多载量小车物料配送调度方法—–装配线物料配送调度的拉格朗日松弛算法.首先对问题域进行了描述并做出了具体假设,以最小化配送系统总成本为目标,建立了混合整数规划模型.在此基础上,针对该模型提出了两种算法—–次梯度和随机步长拉格朗日松弛算法,将松弛问题分解为两个决策子问题分别进行求解.仿真实验表明提出的两种调度算法均适用于该研究问题域,并在求解时间及稳定性上表现出良好的性能.     

Lagrangian bounds for just-in-time job-shop scheduling

We study the job-shop scheduling problem with earliness and tardiness penalties. We describe two Lagrangian relaxations of the problem. The first one is based on the relaxation of precedence constraints while the second one is based on the relaxation of machine constraints. We introduce dedicated algorithms to solve the corresponding dual problems. The second one is solved by a simple dynamic programming algorithm while the first one requires the resolution of an NP-hard problem by branch and bound. In both cases, the relaxations allow us to derive lower bounds as well as heuristic solutions. We finally introduce a simple local search algorithm to improve the best solution found. Computational results are reported.     

Two-agent two-machine flowshop scheduling with learning effects to minimize the total completion time

We study a two-agent scheduling problem in a two-machine permutation flowshop with learning effects. The objective is to minimize the total completion time of the jobs from one agent, given that the maximum tardiness of the jobs from the other agent cannot exceed a bound. We provide a branch-and-bound algorithm for the problem. In addition, we present several genetic algorithms to obtain near-optimal solutions. Computational results indicate that the algorithms perform well in either solving the problem or efficiently generating near-optimal solutions.     

Order acceptance and scheduling to maximize total net revenue in permutation flowshops with weighted tardiness

The order acceptance and scheduling (OAS) problem is important in make-to-order production systems in which production capacity is limited and order delivery requirements are applied. This study proposes a multi-initiator simulated annealing (MSA) algorithm to maximize the total net revenue for the permutation flowshop scheduling problem with order acceptance and weighted tardiness. To evaluate the performance of the proposed MSA algorithm, computational experiments are performed and compared for a benchmark problem set of test instances with up to 500 orders. Experimental results reveal that the proposed heuristic outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithm and obtains the best solutions in 140 out of 160 benchmark instances.