• SPECIALLY STRUCTURED FLOWSHOP PRODUCTION SCHEDULING TO MINIMIZE THE RENTAL COST IN FUZZY ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to introduce the concept of fuzziness in specially structured n jobs, 2 machines flowshop scheduling problem in which the processing time of jobs are uncertain and are represented by trapezoidal fuzzy membership function. In general, the processing time of the jobs are taken to be random. But there are significant cases in which the processing time are not merely random but bears a well-defined relationship to one another. The objective of the paper is to develop a heuristic algorithm to minimize the rental cost of the machines taken on rent under a specified rental policy without violating the value the maximum makespan as proposed by Johnson’s for a two stage specially structured flowshop scheduling. A numerical illustration is also given to demonstrate the computational efficiency of the proposed algorithm.