Heuristic algorithms for multiprocessor task scheduling in a two-stage hybrid flow-shop

The aim of this paper is to propose heuristic algorithms for a two-stage flow-shop scheduling problem with multiprocessor tasks to minimize the makespan. The heuristic algorithms are constructive in nature. They schedule the tasks one at a time from a given sequence. The rules considered for sequencing the tasks are based on simple priority rules from the literature. Some lower bounds for the problem are also derived to be used in the performance analysis of the heuristic algorithms. Next, the average performance of the proposed heuristic algorithms is analyzed by a computational experiment using randomly generated problem instances. The results suggest that these heuristic algorithms are both efficient and effective. The paper concludes with a discussion of the insights obtained from the experimental analysis about this type of scheduling problems. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.