Abstract
This paper describes a generalization of the “labelling” search strategy and its application to scheduling problems. The assignment of a value to the selected variable is replaced by reduction of the domain of the variable. This strategy can be applied for solving problems modelled in CLP(FD).
We discuss the application of this domain-reducing strategy to the well-known problem of 10×10 job-shop scheduling. The computation results obtained using this strategy show its advantages. A good solution, coming to within 3% of the optimal solution, is generated in less than 1 second, using only a simple heuristics for variable selection and domain reduction. Compared with the standard strategy, the domain-reducing strategy exhibits more robustness with respect to the given planning horizon. Assuming that there is a choice of machines, a good solution can be generated with the same strategy, deviating from the optimal solution by less than 4%.
Our experience has shown that the domain-reducing strategy is suitable as a basic search strategy for solving job-shop problems by means of CLP, allowing good (near-to-optimum) solutions to be computed fast.
This research was funded by the German Federal Minister for Education, Science, Research, and Technology under grant 01IW206
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. Aggoun and N. Beldiceanu. Extending CHIP in order to solve complex scheduling and placement problems. Math. Comput. Modelling, 17(7):57–73, 1993.
D. Applegate and W. Cook. A computational study of job-shop scheduling. Operations Research Society of America, 3(2), 1991.
F. Benhamou and A. Colmerauer, editors. Constraint Logic Programming (Selected Research). MIT Press, Cambridge, London, 1993.
S. Breitinger and H.C.R. Lock. Improving search for job-shop-scheduling with CLP(FD). In M. Hermenegildo and J. Penjam, editors, Programming Language Implementation and Logic Programming, volume 844 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 277–291, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1994. Springer.
S. Breitinger and H.C.R. Lock. Modelling and scheduling in CLP(FD). In [13], pages 95–110, 1994.
J. Carlier and E. Pinson. An algorithm for solving the job shop problem. Management Science, 35(2):164–176, 1989.
Y. Caseau and F. Laburthe. Improved CLP scheduling with task intervals. In P. Van Hentenryck, editor, Proc. of the 11th International Conference on Logic Programming, pages 369–383. MIT Press, 1994.
M. Dincbas, H. Simonis, and P. van Hentenryck. Solving large combinatorial problems in logic programming. J. Logic Programming, 8:75–93, 1990.
J. Jaffar and J.-L. Lassez. Constraint logic programming. In Proc. 14th Principles of Programming Languages, pages 111–119, Munich, 1987.
J. Jaffar and M. J. Maher. Constraint logic programming: A survey. J. Logic Programming, 19/20:503–581, 1994.
J.F. Muth and G.L. Thompson. Industrial Scheduling. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1963.
N. Sadeh and M. Fox. Variable and value ordering heuristics for hard constraint satisfaction problems: an application to job-shop scheduling. Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-91-23, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittesburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991.
L. Sterling, editor. Proc. Internat. Conf. on the Practical Application of Prolog. London, 1994.
P. van Hentenryck. Constraint Satisfaction in Logic Programming. MIT Press, Cambridge (Mass.), London, 1989.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Goltz, HJ. (1995). Reducing domains for search in CLP(FD) and its application to job-shop scheduling. In: Montanari, U., Rossi, F. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming — CP '95. CP 1995. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 976. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-60299-2_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-60299-2_33
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-60299-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44788-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive