Minimizing completion time with maintenance schedule in a manufacturing system

Abstract

Purpose

In practical environments, machines subject to maintenance are prevalent in many production systems. This paper aims to find a schedule that minimizes the completion time (or equivalently, the total setup time) subject to maintenance and due dates.

Design/methodology/approach

An efficient heuristic is presented to provide the near‐optimal solution for the problem. The performance of the heuristic is evaluated by comparing its solution with the optimal solution obtained from the integer linear programming model.

Findings

In many production systems, the sequence‐dependent setup time of a job cannot be ignored when a switch between two different jobs occurs. The paper studies the sequence‐dependent setup time problem with periodic maintenance, where several maintenances are required. Computational results show that problems with larger time interval and smaller maintaining time can produce a smaller completion time.

Practical implications

Here an efficient heuristic is developed to provide the near‐optimal schedule for the problem. The proposed integer linear programming model is also presented to provide the optimal schedule. However, the proposed heuristic and the integer linear programming model developed in the paper are appropriate for those companies where maintenance is performed periodically and the sequence‐dependent setup times of their jobs are required.

Originality/value

The paper presents the heuristic and the integer linear programming model to deal with sequencing and maintenance problems.

Citation

Chen, W. (2010), "Minimizing completion time with maintenance schedule in a manufacturing system", Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 382-394. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552511011084535