Notation and typology for the hoist scheduling problem

The hoist scheduling problem (HSP) often arises in electroplating industry. The problem involves scheduling the processing and/or transport operations of products. Products are moved between treatment resources by material handling devices (hoists). This problem is different from classical scheduling problems because it includes various and sometimes particular constraint. The production environment to be dealt with depends on the number and the type of processing specifications to be considered. The important literature related to the HSP shows that many searchers have proposed many approaches to solve the various encountered cases. Those observations lead us to propose a notation and a typology for the hoist scheduling problem. This work aims at making easier the communication between searchers and/or industrials in surface treatment area, by allowing an exact identification of the various studied cases and a comparison of the obtained results