Analysis of scheduling problems in dynamic and stochastic FMS environment : comparison of rescheduling polices

In this thesis, we study the reactive scheduling problems in a dynamic and stochastic flexible manufacturing environment. Specifically, we test different scheduling policies (how-to-schedule and when-to-schedule policies) under process time variations and machine breakdowns in a flexible manufacturing system. These policies are then compared with on-line scheduling schemes. The performance of the system is measured for the mean flowtime criterion. In this study, a beam search based algorithm is used. The algorithm allows us to generate partial or full schedules. The results indicate that on-line scheduling schemes are more robust than the off-line algorithm in dynamic and stochastic environments.