A method for scheduling in parallel manufacturing systems with flexible resources

We address the Parallel-Machine Flexible-Resource Scheduling (PMFRS) problem of simultaneously allocating flexible resources, and sequencing jobs, in cellular manufacturing systems where the cells are configured in parallel. We present a new solution methodology for the PMFRS problem called the Nested Partitions (NP) method. This method combines global sampling of the feasible region and local search heuristics. To efficiently apply the NP method we reformulate the PMFRS problem, develop a new sampling algorithm that can be used to obtain good feasible schedules, and suggest a new improvement heuristic. Numerical examples are also presented to illustrate the new method.