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Machine scheduling in underground mining: an application in the potash industry

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Abstract

In this paper, a scheduling problem that occurs in potash mining is introduced, where a block excavation sequence has to be found taking into account a limited number of underground machines as well as safety-related restrictions. The aim is to minimize the maximum completion time of excavations, i.e., the makespan. The resulting problem can be transformed into a hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with reentry, unrelated machines, and job-precedences. A mixed-integer linear model is presented and small-scale instances are solved with CPLEX. In order to tackle medium- and large-scale instances heuristically, a basic and an advanced multi-start algorithm are developed, based on a specific priority rule-based construction procedure. In addition, a modified version of the Giffler and Thompson procedure is applied. Computational experiments are conducted on problem instances derived from real-world data in order to evaluate the performances of the proposed solution procedures.

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Acknowledgments

The benchmarks presented herein may be downloaded from http://www.wiwi.tu-clausthal.de/abteilungen/unternehmensforschung/forschung/benchmark-instances/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Management and Economics, Operations Research Group, Clausthal University of Technology, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

    Marco Schulze, Julia Rieck, Cinna Seifi & Jürgen Zimmermann

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  1. Marco Schulze
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  2. Julia Rieck
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  3. Cinna Seifi
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  4. Jürgen Zimmermann
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Correspondence to Marco Schulze.

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Schulze, M., Rieck, J., Seifi, C. et al. Machine scheduling in underground mining: an application in the potash industry. OR Spectrum 38, 365–403 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00291-015-0414-y

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