Formulations and heuristics for scheduling in a buffer-constrained flowshop and flowline-based manufacturing cell with different buffer-space requirements for jobs: Part 1

Abstract

This paper is the first of two dealing with the problem of scheduling in a permutation flowshop and a flowline-based manufacturing cell. We consider the presence of different buffer-space requirements (or different in-process inventory levels) for jobs and constraints on buffer capacity between machines. We first identify that the existing formulation for scheduling in the buffer-constrained flowshop—which assumes the same buffer-space requirements for all jobs—is restrictive. Hence, we propose the generalized formulation of recursive equations for time-tabling of jobs in the buffer-constrained flowshop. The formulation also takes into account different buffer-space requirements for jobs. We extend the formulation to address the situation where transport times are separated from process times. Subsequently, we propose the formulation for time-tabling of jobs in the buffer-constrained manufacturing cell.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

C. RAJENDRAN

To whom correspondence should be addressed.