Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Subject to Due Dates: Preemption Permitted with Penalty

Behrouz Afshar-Nadjafi

doi:10.1155/2014/505716

Abstract

Extensive research works have been carried out in resource constrained project scheduling problem. However, scarce researches have studied the problems in which a setup cost must be incurred if activities are preempted. In this research, we investigate the resource constrained project scheduling problem to minimize the total project cost, considering earliness-tardiness and preemption penalties. A mixed integer programming formulation is proposed for the problem. The resulting problem is NP-hard. So, we try to obtain a satisfying solution using simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is tested based on 150 randomly produced examples. Statistical comparison in terms of the computational times and objective function indicates that the proposed algorithm is efficient and effective.

Highlights

Preemptive project scheduling problems are those in which the accomplishing of an activity is temporarily preempted and restarted afterwards
Since we could not find any algorithm for PRCPSPWETPP, the proposed simulated annealing (SA) is compared with the optimal solution obtained by LINGO 11
The preemptive resource constrained project scheduling problem with weighted earliness-tardiness and preemption penalties (PRCPSP-WETPP) is considered. The objective of this problem is to minimize the total cost of earliness-tardiness and preemption penalties subject to the precedence relations, resource constraints, and a fixed project deadline

Summary

Introduction

Preemptive project scheduling problems are those in which the accomplishing of an activity is temporarily preempted and restarted afterwards. Khoshjahan et al [14] proposed two metaheuristics, genetic algorithm (GA), and simulated annealing (SA) to solve the RCPSP with a due date for each activity where the objective is to minimize the net present value of the earliness-tardiness penalty costs. The contribution of this paper is threefold: first, a mixed integer programming formulation is developed for the resource constrained project scheduling problem of minimizing the total earliness-tardiness penalties and preemption costs. In this problem setting, when an activity is restarted after being interrupted, a constant setup penalty is incurred with no setup time.

Problem Description

Time Figure 2

Applying SA Algorithm to PRCPSP-WETPP

Performance Evaluation

Summary and Conclusions