Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Flow shop scheduling with multiple operations and time lags

  • Papers
  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

    We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

    Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

A scheduling system is proposed and developed for a special type of flow shop. In this flow shop there is one machine at each stage. A job may require multiple operations at each stage. The first operation of a job on stage j cannot start until the last operation of the job on stage j - 1 has finished. Pre-emption of the operations of a job is not allowed. The flow shop that the authors consider has another feature, namely time lags between the multiple operations of a job. To move from one operation of a job to another requires a finite amount of time. This time lag is independent of the sequence and need not be the same for all operations or jobs. During a time lag of a job, operations of other jobs may be processed. This problem originates from a flexible manufacturing system scheduling problem where, between operations of a job on the same workstation, refixturing of the parts has to take place in a load/unload station, accompanied by (manual) transportation activities. In this paper a scheduling system is proposed in which the inherent structure of this flow shop is used in the formulation of lowerbounds on the makespan. A number of lowerbounds are developed and discussed. The use of these bounds makes it possible to generate a schedule that minimizes makespan or to construct approximate solutions. Finally, some heuristic procedures for this type of flow shop are proposed and compared with some well-known heuristic scheduling rules for job shop/flow shop scheduling.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aanen, E. (1988) Planning and scheduling in a flexible manufacturing system, Ph.D. Thesis, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Twente.

  • Aanen, E., Gaalman, G. J. C. and Nawijn, W. M. (1993) A scheduling approach for a flexible manufacturing system. International Journal of Production Research, 31, 2369–2385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cao, J. and Bedworth, D. D. (1992) Flow shop scheduling in serial multi-product processes with transfer and set-up times. International Journal of Production Research, 30, 1819–1830.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garey, M. R. and Johnson, D. S. (1979) Computers and Intractability: a Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness, Freeman, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S. M. (1954) Optimal two- and three-stage production schedules with set-up times included. Naval Research Logistics Quarterly, 1, 61–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kern, W. and Nawijn, W. M. (1991) Scheduling multi-operation jobs with time lags on a single machine, Working paper University of Twente, Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitten, L. G. (1958) Sequencing n jobs on two machines with arbitrary time lags. Management Science, 5, 293–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monma, C. L. (1979) The two-machine maximum flow time problem with series parallel precedence relations: an algorithm and extension. Operations Research, 27, 792–798.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton, T. E. and Pentico, D. W. (1993) Heuristic Scheduling Systems, with Applications to Production Systems and Project Management, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szwarc, W. (1983) Flow shop problems with time lags. Management Science, 29, 477–481.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Riezebos, J., Gaalman, G.J.C. & Gupta, J.N.D. Flow shop scheduling with multiple operations and time lags. J Intell Manuf 6, 105–115 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123682

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123682

Keywords

Navigation