A branch and bound based heuristic for multi-product resource constrained scheduling problem in FMS environment

This paper addresses an inter-dependent multiple-product resource-constrained scheduling problem with the objective of makespan minimization in a flexible manufacturing system with resource flexibility. Both consumable and non-consumable resources are considered along with their alternative types and constrained utilization rates. A 0-1 integer linear programming formulation is presented for the problem. The complexity of the problem is observed to be at increase with the availability of alternate resources for product operations. A branch and bound based heuristic is proposed as a solution methodology A numerical example is presented to illustrate the problem and the effectiveness of the heuristic. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.