A logistics scheduling model: scheduling and transshipment for two processing centers

Logistics scheduling refers to problems in which decisions on job scheduling and transportation are integrated into a single framework. A logistics scheduling model for two processing centers that are located in different cities is presented. Each processing center has its own customers. When the demand in one processing center exceeds its processing capacity, it is possible to use part of the capacity of the other processing center subject to a job transshipment delay. Such a coordinated scheduling situation can be modeled as a parallel-machine scheduling problem with transshipment between the machines. We study problems with different objective functions and constraints, and propose various algorithms to solve these problems. Discussions on the benefits and incentives for the coordinated approach are presented.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the Associate Editor and anonymous referees for their helpful comments that have improved the presentation of the paper. The work is partially supported by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Direct Allocation Grant (DAG 03/04.EG02).