Outlining the results of a systematic, long-term research effort aimed at developing effective scheduling algorithms for complex manufacturing facilities, this text focuses on a specific industrial context, that of semiconductor manufacturing. The authors combine knowledge of the specific physical production system with the methods and results of previous scheduling research to develop effective, approximate solution procedures for scheduling problems. The decomposition methods developed in this book constitute a broad family of heuristic approaches to large, NP-hard scheduling problems which can be applied to other manufacturing environments in addition to semiconductor production manufacturing facilities. The results reported in this book indicate that properly designed decomposition methods can obtain significantly better schedules than the dispatching rules that currently form the core of industrial scheduling practice.
1 Introduction.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 The Scheduling Problem in the Organization.- 1.3 The Nature of the Factory Scheduling Problem.- 1.4 Deterministic Formulation of the Factory Scheduling.- Problem.- 1.5 Outline of Book.- 2 Industrial Context and Motivation for Decomposition Methods.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Semiconductor Manufacturing.- 2.3 Formulation as a Job Shop Scheduling Problem.- 2.4 Decomposition Methods.- 2.5 Summary.- 3 Review of Decomposition Methods for Factory Scheduling Problems.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 A Taxonomy of Decomposition Methods for Factory 31 Scheduling Problems.- 3.3 Temporal Decomposition Schemes.- 3.4 Entity Decomposition Schemes.- 3.5 Hybrid Decomposition Schemes.- 3.6 Discussion.- 3.7 Conclusions.- 4 Modelling Interactions Between Subproblems: the Disjunctive Graph Representation and Extensions.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Disjunctive Graph Representation of the Classical Job Shop 48 Problem.- 4.3 Delayed Precedence Constraints.- 4.4 Extensions to Disjunctive Graph Representation.- 4.5 Summary.- 5 Workcenter-Based Decomposition Procedures for The Classical Job Shop Environment.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 The Shifting Bottleneck Procedure.- 5.3 Dispatching Rules Used in Experiments.- 5.4 Results for Benchmark J//Cmax Problems.- 5.5 Results for Small Job Shop Problems.- 5.6 Results for Large Problems.- 5.7 Evaluation of Shifting Bottleneck using Other Performance.- Measures.- 5.8 Summary.- 6 A Generic Decomposition Procedure for Semiconductor Testing Facilities.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 The Generic Decomposition Procedure.- 6.3 Computational Experiments.- 6.4 Results.- 6.5 Conclusions.- 7 Time-Based Decomposition Procedures for Single-Machine Subproblems with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Previous Related Work.- 7.3 Rolling Horizon Procedures.- 7.4 Branch and Bound Algorithm.- 7.5 Experimental Design.- 7.6 Results.- 7.7 Conclusions.- 8 Time-Based Decomposition Procedures for Parallel Machine Subproblems with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Previous Related Work.- 8.3 Rolling Horizon Procedures for Parallel Machines.- 8.4 Use of RHP to Improve on LIST(EDD).- 8.5 Computational Experiments.- 8.6 Results.- 8.7 Conclusions and Future Directions.- 9 Naive Rolling Horizon Procedures for Job Shop Scheduling.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Scheduling Approach.- 9.3 Implementation and Computational Experiments.- 9.4 Results.- 9.5 Summary and Conclusions.- 10 Tailored Decomposition Procedures for Semiconductor Testing Facilities.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Subproblem Formulations.- 10.3 Modifications to the Rolling Horizon Procedures.- 10.4 Local Search Procedures for Single and Parallel Machine.- Problems.- 10.5 Operation-Based Decomposition.- 10.6 Tailored Control Structures for Semiconductor Testing.- Facilities.- 10.7 Summary.- 11. Computational Results for Job Shops with Single and Parallel Machine Workcenters.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Algorithms Compared in Experiments.- 11.3 Results for Shops with Single Machine Workcenters.- 11.4 Results for Shops with Parallel Machine Workcenters.- 11.5 Conclusions.- 12 The Effects of Subproblem Solution Procedures and Control Structures.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Two Additional Decomposition Procedures.- 12.3 Results for Semiconductor Testing Problems.- 12.4 Results for Reentrant Flow Shops.- 12.5 Summary and Conclusions.- 13 Conclusions and Future Directions.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Summary.- 13.3 Conclusions and Future Directions.- Author Index.