Operations Research Transactions

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Two-Machine Flow Shop Problems with Availability Constraints

 YANG  Ming, LU  Xi-Wen   

  • Received:2011-05-19 Revised:2011-07-12 Online:2011-09-20 Published:2011-09-29
  • Contact: Xiwen Lu E-mail:xwlu@ecust.edu.cn

Abstract: We investigate the problems for two-machine flow shop scheduling with availability constraints. A resumable scenario is assumed, i.e., if a job cannot be finished before the interval it is continued after the machine becomes available again. The objective is to minimize the makespan. We first consider an approximate case of the problem with several availability constraints on both machines, present an algorithm with performance ratio of 3/2. Then we give an algorithm with competitive ratio of 3/2 for the semi-online problem with an availability constraint on the second machine.

Key words: scheduling, flow shop, availability constraint, approximation algorithm, competitive ratio