We examine a single machine scheduling problem with step-improving jobs in which job processing times decrease step-wisely over time according to their starting times. The objective is to minimize total completion time which is defined as the sum of completion times of jobs. The total completion time is frequently considered as an objective because it is highly related to the total time spent by jobs in the system as well as work-in-progress. Many applications of this problem can be observed in the real world such as data gathering networks, system upgrades or technological shock, and production lines operated with part-time workers in each shift. Our goal is to develop a scheduling algorithm that can provide an optimal solution. For this, we present an efficient branch and bound algorithm with an assignment-based node design and tight lower bounds that can prune branch and bound nodes at early stages and accordingly reduce the computation time. In numerical experiments well designed to consider various scenarios, it is shown that the proposed algorithm outperforms the existing method and can solve practical problems within reasonable computation time.

Recently, scheduling problems with position-dependent processing times have received considerable attention in the literature, where the processing times of jobs are dependent on the processing sequences. However, they did not consider cases in which each processed job has different learning or aging ratios. This means that the actual processing time for a job can be determined not only by the processing sequence, but also by the learning/aging ratio, which can reflect the degree of processing difficulties in subsequent jobs. Motivated by these remarks, in this paper, we consider a two-agent single-machine scheduling problem with linear job-dependent position-based learning effects, where two agents compete to use a common single machine and each job has a different learning ratio. Specifically, we take into account two different objective functions for two agents: one agent minimizes the total weighted completion time, and the other restricts the makespan to less than an upper bound. After formally defining the problem by developing a mixed integer non-linear programming formulation, we devise a branch-and-bound (B&B) algorithm to give optimal solutions by developing four dominance properties based on a pairwise interchange comparison and four properties regarding the feasibility of a considered sequence. We suggest a lower bound to speed up the search procedure in the B&B algorithm by fathoming any non-prominent nodes. As this problem is at least NP-hard, we suggest efficient genetic algorithms using different methods to generate the initial population and two crossover operations. Computational results show that the proposed algorithms are efficient to obtain near-optimal solutions.

In this paper, we deal with a single machine scheduling problems integrating with step deterioration effect and a rate-modifying activity (RMA). The scheduling problem assumes that the machine may have a single RMA and each job has the processing time of a job with deterioration is a step function of the gap between recent RMA and starting time of the job and a deteriorating date that is individual to all jobs. Based on the two scheduling phenomena, we simultaneously determine the schedule of step deteriorating jobs and the position of the RMA to minimize the makespan. To solve the problem, we propose a hybrid typed genetic algorithm compared with conventional GAs.

This paper considers a multiagent scheduling problem under public information where a machine is shared by multiple agents. Each agent has a local objective among the minimization of total completion time and the minimization of maximum. In this problem.

This paper considers a single machine scheduling problem where the machine is shared by multiple sub-production systems. Each sub-production systems has heterogeneous local objectives (e.g., minimization of total completion time, maximum tardiness and makespan). In a distributed manufacturing environment, no sub-production system has complete information (e.g., processing time, due date) of the entire system. This paper provides a distributed scheduling method to find close-to-optimal coordination on the shared machine using minimum local information sharing among sub-production systems. The proposed method is compared to pareto solution that can be found in a centralized environment.