Abstract.
We consider the movement minimization problem in a conveyor flow shop processing controlled by one worker for all machines. A machine can only execute tasks if the worker is present. Each machine can serve as a buffer. The objective is to minimize the total number of movements of the worker for the processing of all jobs. Such minimization problems usually appear in conveyor controlled manufacturing systems. We show the NP-completeness of the problem and introduce an approximation algorithm with error ratio 2.
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Manuscript received: February 2002/Final version received: September 2002
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ID="*" The work of the first author was supported by the German Research Association (DFG) grant WA 674/8-1/2.
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Espelage, W., Wanke, E. Movement minimization for unit distances in conveyor flow shop processing. Mathematical Methods of OR 57, 173–206 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001860200249
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001860200249