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Current studies on scheduling of machines and transporters assume that either a single transporter or an infinite number of homogeneous transporters such as AGVs or mobile robots are available to transport semi-finished jobs, which seems very restrictive in practice. This paper addresses this gap by studying a job-shop scheduling problem that incorporates a limited number of heterogeneous transporters, where the objective is to minimize the makespan. The problem is modelled using mixed-integer linear programming and constraint programming. Different structure-based branch-and-bound algorithms with two lower-bounding strategies are also developed. A comprehensive numerical study evaluates the proposed models and algorithms. The research demonstrates that the adjustment of the proposed MILP model outperforms the existing formulation when applied to the homogeneous case. The study also uncovers interesting practical implications, including the analysis of the impact of different transporter types in the system. It shows that utilizing a fleet of heterogeneous transporters can improve the overall performance of the job shop compared to a relevant homogeneous case. The importance of the study is emphasized by highlighting the negative consequences of disregarding transporters' differences during the scheduling phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a permutation flow-shop scheduling problem where there are a finite number of transporters to carry jobs from each machine to its subsequent machine. The problem is first formulated as a mixed-integer linear programme, and then two anarchic society optimisation (ASO) algorithms are developed to solve large-sized instances of the problem. The numerical experience shows that the ASO algorithms are considerably effective and efficient. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to study the performance of the manufacturing system versus the transportation times and the number of transporters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]