a Department of Logistics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kongb Weatherhead School of Management, Department of Operations, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
Abstract:
We consider an integrated scheduling and distribution model in which jobs completed by two different machines must be bundled together for delivery. The objective is to minimize the sum of the delivery cost and customers' waiting costs. Such a model not only attempts to coordinate the job schedules on both machines, but also aims to coordinate the machine schedules with the delivery plan. Polynomial-time heuristics and approximation schemes are developed for the model with only direct shipments as well as the general model with milk-run deliveries.