A Scheduling Algorithm for On-Time Production in A Hybrid Flow Shop Manufacturing Process

In this paper, we propose a scheduling algorithm for on-time production in a hybrid flow shop manufacturing process. The main objective of our proposed algorithm is to schedule the operation of machine so as to maximize the number of machines that substitute the operation of failed machines, while satisfying the maximum allowable production time. To this end, the algorithm maximizes time interval between operations at different stages to maximize the number of substitute machines to be allocated in the time interval. Max-min optimization is employed to achieve the objective of the proposed algorithm. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with that of the algorithm minimizing the makespan of a schedule. Our numerical results show that the proposed algorithm improves the robustness of a manufacturing process prone to machine failure. The performance of the proposed algorithm is about three times as high as that of the algorithm minimizing the makespan in the manufacturing process, where one hundred of jobs are to be processed.