Finite capacity scheduling with the placement sequence method, specification for a computer program

Abstract

This is one of a series of papers which describes the placement sequence approach to finite capacity scheduling of factories. In this paper, the author gives a detailed description of how to write a computer program to do finite capacity scheduling using the placement sequence method. The main advantage of the placement sequence method is that it treats multiple and alternative tools and machines as the normal situation, with single machine scheduling as a special case. The author presents a series of flow charts, file structure definitions and a project plan which should enable a research group to get started on an industrial scale finite capacity scheduling program. The author also shows how researchers can tap into the program to write their own higher level algorithms to drive the lower level scheduling calculations. This paper, combined with the explanation of the earlier papers in IJPR, provides a framework for further research into finite capacity scheduling with multiple and alternative tools and machines.