Chaotic behavior in complex shop scheduling

In this paper, we set up a shop scheduling model with various complexity of process sequence, variations of processing time and load ratio. Then we apply damage spreading analysis, which is one of dynamic system analysis methods, to the model and we show the model reveals sensitivity to initial conditions in some parameter regions. We discuss how small damage (disturbance) to the system spreads throughout the system in the region and the behavior make it difficult to predict future schedules.