Heuristic Approach for Bicriteria in Constrained Three Stage Flow Shop Scheduling

Abstract

This paper presents bicriteria in n-jobs, three machines flow shop scheduling problem to minimize the total elapsed time and rental cost of the machines under a specified rental policy in which the processing time, independent setup time each associated with probabilities including transportation time and job block concept. Further the concept of the break down interval for which the machines are not available for the processing is included. A heuristic approach method to find optimal or near optimal sequence has been discussed. A computer programme followed by a numerical illustration is given to substantiate the algorithm.

Keywords: Flow Shop, Processing time, Setup time, Makespan, Break-down interval, Job block, Transportation time, Rental Cost.