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Minimizing Cycle Time in a Blocking Flowshop

Author

Listed:
  • I.N. Kamal Abadi

    (Faculty of Engineering, University of Kordestan, Sanandaj, Islamic Republic of Iran)

  • Nicholas G. Hall

    (Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210)

  • Chelliah Sriskandarajah

    (School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2601 N. Floyd Road, Richardson, Texas 75083-0688)

Abstract

We consider a blocking (i.e., bufferless) flowshop that repetitively processes a minimal part set to minimize its cycle time, or equivalently to maximize its throughput rate. The best previous heuristic procedure solves instances with 9 machines and 25 jobs, with relative errors averaging about 3% but sometimes as much as 10%. The idea of deliberately slowing down the processing of operations (i.e., increasing their processing times) establishes a precise mathematical connection between this problem and a no-wait flowshop. This enables a very effective heuristic for the no-wait flowshop to be adapted as a heuristic for the blocking flowshop. Our computational results show relative errors that average less than 2% for instances with 20 machines and 250 jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • I.N. Kamal Abadi & Nicholas G. Hall & Chelliah Sriskandarajah, 2000. "Minimizing Cycle Time in a Blocking Flowshop," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 48(1), pages 177-180, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:48:y:2000:i:1:p:177-180
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.48.1.177.12451
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. I N Kamal Abadi, 2007. "A new algorithm for minimizing makespan, C max, in blocking flow-shop problem through slowing down the operations," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(1), pages 134-140, January.
    2. Kalczynski, Pawel Jan & Kamburowski, Jerzy, 2007. "On no-wait and no-idle flow shops with makespan criterion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 178(3), pages 677-685, May.
    3. Liu, Shi Qiang & Kozan, Erhan, 2009. "Scheduling a flow shop with combined buffer conditions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 371-380, February.
    4. Mor Kaspi & Tal Raviv, 2013. "Service-Oriented Line Planning and Timetabling for Passenger Trains," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(3), pages 295-311, August.
    5. Bagchi, Tapan P. & Gupta, Jatinder N.D. & Sriskandarajah, Chelliah, 2006. "A review of TSP based approaches for flowshop scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(3), pages 816-854, March.
    6. Pan, Quan-Ke & Wang, Ling, 2012. "Effective heuristics for the blocking flowshop scheduling problem with makespan minimization," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 218-229, April.
    7. Caraffa, Vince & Ianes, Stefano & P. Bagchi, Tapan & Sriskandarajah, Chelliah, 2001. "Minimizing makespan in a blocking flowshop using genetic algorithms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 101-115, March.
    8. Débora Ronconi, 2005. "A Branch-and-Bound Algorithm to Minimize the Makespan in a Flowshop with Blocking," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 53-65, September.
    9. Zhichao Feng & Milind Dawande & Ganesh Janakiraman, 2021. "On the Capacity of a Process with Batch Processing and Setup Times," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(11), pages 4273-4287, November.
    10. Nicholas G. Hall & Gilbert Laporte & Esaignani Selvarajah & Chelliah Sriskandarajah, 2005. "Scheduling and lot streaming in two‐machine open shops with no‐wait in process," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(3), pages 261-275, April.
    11. Milind Dawande & Zhichao Feng & Ganesh Janakiraman, 2021. "On the Structure of Bottlenecks in Processes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3853-3870, June.
    12. Carlier, Jacques & Haouari, Mohamed & Kharbeche, Mohamed & Moukrim, Aziz, 2010. "An optimization-based heuristic for the robotic cell problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(3), pages 636-645, May.
    13. Lee, Wen-Chiung & Shiau, Yau-Ren & Chen, Shiuan-Kang & Wu, Chin-Chia, 2010. "A two-machine flowshop scheduling problem with deteriorating jobs and blocking," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 188-197, March.
    14. Lin, Shih-Wei & Ying, Kuo-Ching, 2013. "Minimizing makespan in a blocking flowshop using a revised artificial immune system algorithm," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 383-389.
    15. Soukhal, A. & Martineau, P., 2005. "Resolution of a scheduling problem in a flowshop robotic cell," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(1), pages 62-72, February.
    16. Ronconi, Débora P. & Henriques, Luís R.S., 2009. "Some heuristic algorithms for total tardiness minimization in a flowshop with blocking," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 272-281, April.
    17. Saied Samiedaluie & Vedat Verter, 2019. "The impact of specialization of hospitals on patient access to care; a queuing analysis with an application to a neurological hospital," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 709-726, December.
    18. Grabowski, Jøzef & Pempera, Jaroslaw, 2007. "The permutation flow shop problem with blocking. A tabu search approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 302-311, June.

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