A Novel Approach for Minimizing Processing Times of Three-Stage Flow Shop Scheduling Problems under Fuzziness

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate a novel three-stage flow shop scheduling problem with an ambiguous processing time. The uncertain information is characterized by Pentagonal fuzzy numbers. To solve the problem, in this paper, two different strategies are proposed; one relies on the idea of a ranking function, and the other on the close interval approximation of the pentagonal fuzzy number. For persons that need to be more specific in their requirements, the close interval approximation of the Pentagonal fuzzy number is judged to be the best appropriate approximation interval. Regarding the rental cost specification, these methods are used to reduce the rental cost for the concerned devices. In addition, a comparison of our suggested approach’s computed total processing time, total machine rental cost, and machine idle time to the existing approach is introduced. A numerical example is shown to clarify the benefits of the two strategies and to help the readers understand it better.