Aggregate scheduling of a flexible machining and assembly system

An aggregate scheduling problem for a flexible manufacturing system which consists of a machining and an assembly subsystem is presented. The aggregate schedule developed is used as an input to a real-time scheduling problem discussed previously by the author (Proc. 2nd ORSA/TIMS Conf. on Flexible Manuf. Syst: Oper. Res. Methods and Appl., Elsevier NY, 1986, pp.521-32). Although features of the flexible manufacturing environment are not explicit at the aggregate scheduling level, they are incorporated at the real-time scheduling level. The single-product and N-product scheduling problems are considered. To solve the problems two optimal scheduling algorithms are developed. Each algorithm is illustrated with a numerical example. The results are also applicable to the single-batch and N-batch scheduling problems