Single-machine scheduling with setup time: a case study in the cutting of large-scale structural parts

Abstract

This article considers a single-machine scheduling problem with setup time to optimize the cutting schedule for structural parts within a railway equipment manufacturing enterprise. When performing parts-cutting operations for various orders, factors such as priority, the material attribute of the steel plate and part specifications need to be considered. Notably, it is beneficial to ensure continuous cutting to minimize steel waste when these parts need the same steel plates. A mixed integer programming model and a two-stage heuristic are proposed to determine the cutting sequence of the parts. The two-stage heuristic involves preprocessing and local search. Finally, the performance of the proposed approaches is assessed using real-world cutting production data. This includes scenarios with more than 10,000 parts, allowing for a thorough evaluation. The results indicate that the proposed two-stage heuristic exhibits significant efficiency and quality advantages compared to the Gurobi tm solver and local search.