Scheduling two machines that require multiple types of maintenance, for a single operation

Gadi Rabinowitz, Shai Goren, Abraham Mehrez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The problem explored was of using two machines, one at a time, to perform a continuous operation, where each machine is subject to different types and lengths of maintenance. The operation periods between maintenance periods can also vary in length. All the periods are deterministic in length. When the last period ends, the first period starts again. The objective is to maximize the portion of time with an operating machine. We conjecture this is an NP problem. This problem extends the study by J. Kreimer and A. Mehrez on an n-machine single type of maintenance scheduling (MS) problem. The no-interrupt policy, that was optimal for their problem is not optimal for ours. Properties of the optimal solution and identification of the state transition mechanism lead to a finite, but exponentially bounded, algorithm that constructs cyclic solutions. Heuristic methods are recommended and tested for small-sized problems. They achieve, on an average, more than 99% of the highest objective function value found by the algorithm, and equal that value in 55-80% of the random problems. The most efficient heuristic method consists of the SPT scheduling rule.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)546-564
Number of pages19
JournalEuropean Journal of Operational Research
Volume127
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 16 Dec 2000

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Computer Science
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Management Science and Operations Research
  • Information Systems and Management

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