A modified campbell dudek smith algorithm for flow shop scheduling with parallel machines, batch processors and assembly.

This paper exhibits an adaptation of Campbell Dudek Smith (CDS) algorithm for a flow shop system whose end product consists of four components, each of which is firstly processed in a single-stage with parallel machines, followed by a number of batch processors, and then finally assembled in one of available assembling stations. The first step of the procedure is to compute equivalent processing times of each stage for each job, and then use the equivalent processing times to find the job sequence using the CDS algorithm. After the job sequence found, the final step is to schedule the jobs considering the parallel machines, the batch processors, and the assembling stations. Numerical example shows that this procedure results a reasonably good schedule for the case studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]