Machine scheduling problems: a branch and bound approach

Abstract

A11 the uterlil In this thesis Is devoted to ««chine scheduling prob1e«s. It Is presented In eight chapters.
The first three chapters are Introductory in which we give various aspects of problem for«u1at1on, and we discuss the well-known methods of solution for machine scheduling problems.
The next four chapters contain original research, unless otherwise acknowledged, on various machine scheduling problem.
In chapter four we use branch and bound techniques to solve a one «achine problem with release dates to minimize the weighted number of late Jobs.
In chapter five machine sequencing to minimize total cost (not assumed to be a non-decreasing function of completion time) Is considered. A dynamic programming formulation and relaxation of the problem Is presented. Then we use branch and bound techniques to solve this problem, because the number of states required by this formulation Is large.
In chapter six we provide a computational comparison of six algorithms which are used to solve the single machine sequencing to minimize the total weighted tardiness. Two algorithms use dynamic programming and four algorithms use branch and bound.
Chapter seven Is devoted to use of branch and bound techniques to solve the two-machine flow shop problem to minimize the maximum completion time, when each Job Is processed first on machine A, is then transported to machine B, and lastly Is processed on machine B.
Finally, chapter eight contains our conclusion together with some suggestions for future research.