Predictive heuristics to generate robust and stable schedules in single machine systems under disruptions

Abstract

The present paper examines the problems of stable and robust scheduling under disruptions with uncertain processing times. In order to handle such problems, in addition to exact solution approaches, a general predictive two-stage heuristic algorithm is proposed. In the first stage of the algorithm, the optimal robust schedule is generated by only considering the uncertain job processing times and forgoing the breakdown disruptions. In the second stage, adequate additional times are embedded in job processing times to enhance stability. Extensive computational experiments are carried out to test the performances of the proposed methods. The achieved results show the superiority of the proposed general predictive heuristic approach over the common methods in the literature.