Scheduling with multi-attribute setup times

In this paper we address a scheduling problem with multi-attribute setup times originated from the manufacturing plant of a company producing PVC sheets. In the considered scheduling problem, each job has a number of attributes and each attribute has one or more levels. Because there is at least one different level of attribute between two adjacent jobs, it is necessary to make a setup adjustment whenever there is a switch to a different job. The objective of the problem is to determine a processing sequence so as to minimize the total setup time on a single machine.We develop a constructive heuristic based on several theorems for the problem. The heuristic has been evaluated by comparing with an existing constructive heuristic, a tabu search heuristic and a dynamic programming approach, and its efficiency and effectiveness have been demonstrated. The computational results show that the proposed heuristic outperforms the current scheduling method used by the case plant with a significant improvement.

► This paper addresses a scheduling problem with multi-attribute setup times.
► The problem is originated from a manufacturing plant producing PVC sheets.
► A constructive heuristic based on several theorems for the problem is developed.
► The proposed heuristic improves the current method by 30–38%.