Flow shop-sequencing problem with synchronous transfers and makespan minimization.

This study considers a permutation flow shop-sequencing problem with synchronous transfers between stations. The objective is to minimize the makespan. It is shown that the problem is strongly NP-hard. A branch-and-bound algorithm together with several lower and upper bounding procedures are developed. The algorithm returns optimal solutions to moderate-sized problem instances in reasonable solution times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]