Identical Machines Research Articles

Approximation schemes for scheduling jobs on identical parallel machines to minimize the maximum lateness and makespan

We consider a multiobjective scheduling problem, with the aim of minimizing the maximum lateness and the makespan on identical machines, when the number of machines is fixed. This paper proposes an exact algorithm (based on a dynamic programming) to generate the complete Pareto Frontier in a pseudo-polynomial time. Moreover, four heuristics have been proposed in order to optimize our algorithm. Then, we present a Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (PTAS) to generate an approximate Pareto Frontier. In this scheme, we use a simplification technique based on the merging of jobs. Furthermore, we present a Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme (FPTAS) to generate an approximate Pareto Frontier, based on the conversion of the dynamic programming algorithm. The proposed FPTAS is strongly polynomial. Finally, some numerical experiments are provided in order to compare the proposed approaches.

Algorithms for the semi-online MapReduce scheduling problem on two identical machines

We investigate the semi-online problem of MapReduce scheduling on two parallel machines. We aim to minimize the makespan. Jobs are released over-list, and each job includes a map task and a reduce task. The job’s map task can be preemptive and scheduled simultaneously onto different machines, however, the reduce task is non-preemptive. The job’s reduce task needs to wait for its map task to complete before starting. We consider the following two versions: Firstly, we know the processing time of the largest reduce task beforehand, and then design a 4/3-competitive optimal semi-online algorithm. Secondly, we know in advance the value of the reduce task with the largest processing time and the the total sum of the processing times. Then we present a 4/3-competitive semi-online algorithm. We conclude that the algorithm is the best possible when the largest reduce task meets certain conditions.

Randomized approximation schemes for minimizing the weighted makespan on identical parallel machines

Randomized approximation schemes for minimizing the weighted makespan on identical parallel machines

Novel Approaches to the Formulation of Scheduling Problems

This paper presents two novel formulations for scheduling problems, namely order-position hybrid formulation (OPH) and order-disjunctive hybrid formulation (ODH), which extend and combine parts of existing formulation strategies. The first strategy (OPH) is based on sequence position and linear ordering formulations, adding relationships between constraints that allow relaxing some decision variables. The second approach (ODH) is based on linear ordering and disjunctive formulations. In this work, we prove ODH to be the most efficient formulation known so far. The experiments have been carried out with a large set of problems, which consider single machines and identical parallel machines. Computational results show that OPH is better than the rest of the existing formulations for the case of weighted completion objectives, while ODH turns out to be the best approach for most scenarios studied.

A Flow-Based Formulation for Parallel Machine Scheduling Using Decision Diagrams

We present a new flow-based formulation for identical parallel machine scheduling with a regular objective function and without idle time. The formulation is constructed with the help of a decision diagram that represents all job sequences that respect specific ordering rules. These rules rely on a partition of the planning horizon into, generally nonuniform, periods and do not exclude all optimal solutions, but they constrain solutions to adhere to a canonical form. The new formulation has numerous variables and constraints, and hence we apply a Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition to compute the linear programming relaxation in reasonable time; the resulting lower bound is stronger than the bound from the classical time-indexed formulation. We develop a branch-and-price framework that solves three instances from the literature for the first time. We compare the new formulation with the time-indexed and arc time–indexed formulation by means of a series of computational experiments. History: Accepted by Andrea Lodi, Area Editor for Design & Analysis of Algorithms—Discrete. Funding: This work was partially funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under [Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant 754462]. Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information ( https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2022.0301 ) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository ( https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2022.0301 ). The complete IJOC Software and Data Repository is available at https://informsjoc.github.io/ .

Reducing the Power Consumption of Edge Devices Supporting Ambient Intelligence Applications

Having as a main objective the exploration of power efficiency of microcontrollers running machine learning models, this manuscript contrasts the performance of two types of state-of-the-art microcontrollers, namely ESP32 with an LX6 core and ESP32-S3 with an LX7 core, focusing on the impact of process acceleration technologies like cache memory and vectoring. The research employs experimental methods, where identical machine learning models are run on both microcontrollers under varying conditions, with particular attention to cache optimization and vector instruction utilization. Results indicate a notable difference in power efficiency between the two microcontrollers, directly linked to their respective process acceleration capabilities. The study concludes that while both microcontrollers show efficacy in running machine learning models, ESP32-S3 with an LX7 core demonstrates superior power efficiency, attributable to its advanced vector instruction set and optimized cache memory usage. These findings provide valuable insights for the design of power-efficient embedded systems supporting machine learning for a variety of applications, including IoT and wearable devices, ambient intelligence, and edge computing and pave the way for future research in optimizing machine learning models for low-power, embedded environments.

Due-Date assignment with acceptable lead-times on parallel machines

The paper studies scheduling and due-date assignment problems on parallel machines. We consider the DIF (different due date) model, which assumes job-dependent acceptable lead-times. Thus, in addition to the classical job-earliness and job-tardiness costs, the scheduler is penalized if an assigned due-date exceeds its lead-time. First, the case of a common lead-time is studied. Then we focus on the setting of job-dependent lead-times and identical (earliness, tardiness, and lead-time) costs. Both models are examined for parallel identical, uniform, and unrelated machines. The case in which the option of job-rejection is allowed is also considered. For all these NP-hard problems, efficient pseudo-polynomial dynamic programming algorithms are introduced and tested. Our numerical tests indicate that problems containing 500 jobs are solved in less than 0.3 s.

A novel exact formulation for parallel machine scheduling problems

Machine scheduling is one of the most studied problems due to its technical challenges and prevalence in real life. In the literature, continuous- and discrete-time formulations are the two most known formulations for scheduling problems. However, continuous-time formulations often suffer from weak linear relaxations, while discrete-time formulations struggle with large numbers of variables. In contrast, the bucket-indexed formulation is an alternative that mitigates both issues by working with partial time discretization. We propose a mixed-integer linear programming model based on a bucket-indexed formulation to solve a nonpreemptive scheduling problem of identical parallel machines considering release dates, deadlines, precedence, eligibility, and machine availability constraints. We evaluate the proposed formulation against real-world instances comprising more than 400 jobs and 100 machines, comparing its performance against equivalent continuous- and discrete-time formulations. Remarkably, our formulation can be solved to optimality for all instances, outperforming both continuous- and discrete-time formulations.

The Optimization Inventory Process on Identical Machine Job Shop with Multiple Setups Using Genetic Algorithm

The Optimization Inventory Process on Identical Machine Job Shop with Multiple Setups Using Genetic Algorithm

Scheduling with cardinality dependent unavailability periods

We consider non-preemptive scheduling problems on parallel identical machines where machines change their status from being available to being unavailable and vice versa along the time horizon. The particular form of unavailability we consider is when the starting time of each downtime depends upon the cardinality of the job subset processed on that machine since the previous downtime. We consider the problem of minimizing the makespan in such scenarios as well as its dual problem where we have a fixed common deadline of 1 and the goal is to minimize the number of machines for which there is a feasible schedule. We develop an EPTAS for the first variant and an AFPTAS for the second variant.

EPTAS for parallel identical machine scheduling with time restrictions

We consider the non-preemptive scheduling problem on identical machines where there is a parameter B and each machine in every unit length time interval can process up to B different jobs. The goal function we consider is the makespan minimization and we develop an EPTAS for this problem. Prior to our work a PTAS was known only for the case of one machine and constant values of B, and even the case of non-constant values of B on one machine was not known to admit a PTAS.

A genetic algorithm for fuzzy identical parallel machine scheduling of minimising total weighted tardiness under resource constraint

Due to the severity of resource consumption and uncertainty in orders, new challenges have arisen for production scheduling in enterprises. This paper studies the scheduling problem of minimising the total weighted tardiness for jobs with fuzzy processing times and due dates on identical parallel machines with resource constraint. To address this research problem, we first propose methods to calculate the upper bound of resource consumption and the maximum number of machines that can be used, effectively reducing the search space and improving the algorithm's efficiency. Secondly, a local search algorithm based on job swapping is proposed to enhance the algorithm's performance. Then, repair algorithms based on job removal and job swapping are designed to repair infeasible solutions. Finally, we propose a fuzzy genetic algorithm (FGALS) to solve the problem based on the above elements. Through extensive simulation experiments, the effectiveness and efficiency of the FGALS algorithm are verified by comparing it with commercial solver Gurobi and several meta-heuristic algorithms.

Scheduling identical serial-batching machines in the engine manufacturing supply chain by an integrated variable neighborhood search algorithm

The optimization of the high-end equipment manufacturing process is becoming progressively more difficult, which brings a big challenge for high-end equipment manufacturers. Numerous variables, such as equipment wear and tear, the service level of the supply chain, etc., may have a significant impact on the efficiency of high-end equipment manufacturing. In this paper, motivated by the need to improve the productivity of engines, we study a scheduling problem considering the deterioration effect, component parts supply, and parallel serial-batch processing machines. The job processing time is sum-of-actual-processing-time-dependent and the set-up time of a batch is time-dependent. The objective is to minimize the makespan. Firstly, we analyze the structural properties of the problem under two special cases. Then, a dynamic programming (DP) algorithm is proposed to group the jobs into batches, and two heuristic algorithms are designed to improve the job sequence based on the structural properties. Algorithm 3 is proposed to provide a lower bound for the investigated problem. Next, we develop a variable neighborhood search algorithm (VNS-H) which integrates the DP algorithm, heuristic algorithms, and four local search strategies. Extensive computational experiments are conducted to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the VNS-H algorithm solves the proposed problem effectively and outperforms other involved metaheuristics. The proposed methods in this work can provide manufacturers with useful decision-making support that improves production efficiency and reduces operational costs.

Single-lot, lot-streaming problem for a 1 + m hybrid flow shop

In this paper, we consider an application of lot-streaming for processing a lot of multiple items in a hybrid flow shop (HFS) for the objective of minimizing makespan. The HFS that we consider consists of two stages with a single machine available for processing in Stage 1 and m identical parallel machines in Stage 2. We call this problem a 1 + m TSHFS-LSP (two-stage hybrid flow shop, lot streaming problem), and show it to be NP-hard in general, except for the case when the sublot sizes are treated to be continuous. The novelty of our work is in obtaining closed-form expressions for optimal continuous sublot sizes that can be solved in polynomial time, for a given number of sublots. A fast linear search algorithm is also developed for determining the optimal number of sublots for the case of continuous sublot sizes. For the case when the sublot sizes are discrete, we propose a branch-and-bound-based heuristic to determine both the number of sublots and sublot sizes and demonstrate its efficacy by comparing its performance against that of a direct solution of a mixed-integer formulation of the problem by CPLEX®.

Logic-based Benders decomposition for bi-objective parallel machine selection and job scheduling with release dates and resource consumption

This work addresses a new bi-objective parallel machine selection and job scheduling problem with release dates and resource consumption. It consists in optimally selecting subcontractors (machines) from a set of geographically dispersed locations and scheduling the orders (jobs) to the selected subcontractors for processing while meeting the order release dates and resource consumption restrictions, so as to simultaneously minimize the maximum completion time, i.e., the makespan, and the total cost including machine usage cost and resource consumption cost. The problem is first formulated into a bi-objective mixed-integer linear program based on linear ordering (LO-MILP), and then valid inequalities are explored based on property analysis. To solve it, an ɛ-constraint method based on LO-MILP (ɛ-LO-MILP) is first proposed. To more efficiently solve it, we also develop a tailored logic-based Benders decomposition combined with ɛ-constraint method (ɛ-LBBD) where a novel method to obtain a tight lower bound of the identical parallel machine with machine-dependent release dates and some problem-specific cuts are proposed. Numerical experiments on an illustrative example are conducted to show the applicability of the model and algorithm and intuitively reveal the trade-off between production efficiency and cost. Experimental results on 200 instances with up to 100 orders demonstrate that ɛ-LBBD can reduce the computation time by about 28.92% compared to ɛ-LO-MILP and yields better Pareto solutions than ɛ-LO-MILP and the well-known non-dominated sorted genetic algorithm II do.

A competitive algorithm for throughput maximization on identical machines

This paper considers the basic problem of scheduling jobs online with preemption to maximize the number of jobs completed by their deadline on m identical machines. The main result is an O(1) competitive deterministic algorithm for any number of machines m>1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$m >1$$\\end{document}.

A Lagrangian relaxation algorithm for stochastic fixed interval scheduling problem with non-identical machines and job classes

This paper deals with operational fixed interval scheduling problems under uncertainty caused by random delays. This stochastic programming problem has a deterministic reformulation based on network flow under the assumption that the machines are identical and the multivariate distribution of random delays follows an Archimedean copula. In this paper, we focus on the problem with heterogeneous machines and jobs classes. The deterministic problem with no delays and more than one machine type has been shown to be NP-hard. We generalize the deterministic reformulation of the stochastic problem with random delays for non-identical (heterogeneous) machines. This formulation for more than one machine type loses an important property of total unimodularity that holds for identical machines reformulation using the network flow problem. Therefore, an algorithm based on the Lagrangian relaxation is derived and implemented together with an efficient upper bounding heuristic. Its efficiency is confirmed by solving a large number of simulated instances.

Minimizing total completion time with machine-dependent priority lists

We consider a natural, yet challenging variant of the parallel machine scheduling problem in which each machine imposes a preferential order over the jobs and schedules the jobs accordingly once assigned to it. We study the problem of minimizing the total completion time, distinguishing between identical and unrelated machines, machine-dependent and identical priority lists, or a constant number of different priority classes. Additionally, we consider the setting in which the priority list on a machine must satisfy longest processing time first. We resolve the computational complexity of the problem and provide a clear distinction between problems that are polynomial time solvable and APX-hard.

An Accurate and Robust Genetic Algorithm to Minimize the Total Tardiness in Parallel Machine Scheduling Problems

This paper uses a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to reduce total tardiness in an identical parallel machine scheduling problem. The proposed GA is a crossover-free (vegetative reproduction) GA but used for four types of mutations (Two Genes Exchange mutation, Number of Jobs mutation, Flip Ends mutation, and Flip Middle mutation) to make the required balance between the exploration and exploitation functions of the crossover and mutation operators. The results showed that use of these strategies positively affects the accuracy and robustness of the proposed GA in minimizing the total tardiness. The results of the proposed GA are compared to the mathematical model in terms of the time required to tackle the proposed problem. The findings illustrate the ability of the propounded GA to acquire the results in a short time compared to the mathematical model. On the other hand, increasing the number of machines degraded the performance of the proposed GA.

Highly efficient scheduling algorithms for identical parallel machines with sufficient conditions for optimality of the solutions

Highly efficient scheduling algorithms for identical parallel machines with sufficient conditions for optimality of the solutions