Scheduling on a Flexible Job Shop with Setup Operation in IT Manufacturing Fabrication

Objectives: We consider the scheduling problem in which the separate sequence dependent setup is considered even though a job to be processed is not arrived. Methods/Statistical Analysis: In a flexible job shop considered here, to minimize average flow times and tardiness, heuristic algorithms based on dispatching rules are suggested. A series of computational experiment is done for evaluating the performance of the suggested ones and result shows that they perform better than modified methods in previous researches and a method used in a real situation. Findings: Priority rule based scheduling algorithms and relaxed mixed integer programming for obtaining the initial schedules and improvement procedures are suggested and they give very good solution in a reasonable time so that it can be argued that they are innovative and suitable for the sustainability on the manufacturing firms. This study can be extended to various researches. For example, different types of measurements, such as make span can be used in this problem. Also, one may extend to the large sized problems, i.e., larger number of jobs, operations and machines, for reflecting more real situation. On the other hand, one might need to develop the optimal methodologies such as combinatorial optimization ones. Improvements/ Applications: The suggested methodologies here can be used in IT manufacturing fabrication such as semiconductor and liquid crystal display ones to enhance the ability of production and customer satisfaction.