Makespan minimization for two parallel machines scheduling with a periodic availability constraint: Mathematical programming model, average-case analysis, and anomalies

A mathematical programming model is proposed for the two parallel machines scheduling problem where one machine is periodically unavailable, jobs are non-preemptive, and the objective is minimizing the makespan. The model is established by transforming the two parallel machine setting into a single machine setting. Average-case analyses of the classical Longest Processing Time first (LPT) algorithm and the List Scheduling (LS) are presented. Computational experiments show that the LPT algorithm beats the LS algorithm in all the 96 combinations of two main parameters from an average-case error point of view and that the average-case error of the LPT algorithm is less than 2% when the number of jobs is greater than twenty. Unexpectedly, there also exist instances showing that the LS algorithm may beat the LPT algorithm from the average-case error point of view.