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Scheduling Problems in Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 16860

Special Issue Editor

Department of Information Management, Cheng Shiu University, Taiwan
Interests: scheduling; production and operation management; multi-objective scheduling problems; evolutionary algorithms; estimation of distribution algorithm; time-of-use electricity cost; learning effect

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Scheduling problems belong to operation levels that impact daily efficiency profoundly in industry. They manifest themselves as form-of-production scheduling problems, nurse scheduling problems, project scheduling problems, timetable scheduling problems, and so on. Researchers may consider the minimization of the earliness, tardiness, makespan, the number of people, and so forth. If the number of the objective function is more than one, it becomes a bi-objective or a multi-objective problem. These smaller scheduling problems could be solved using exact algorithms, such as the branch-and-bound algorithm, dynamic programming, or mixed integer linear programming. When we deal with larger scheduling problems, in particular, the NP-Hard ones, some popular meta-heuristics, such as the Genetic Algorithm, Ant Colony Optimization, discrete particle swarm optimization, and tabu search.

Even though scheduling problems have been studied extensively, increasing concern about green scheduling is critical for enterprises. For example, carbon dioxide emissions during peak hours are higher than during off-peak hours in some countries. Manufacturers could process orders with higher electricity consumption outside of peak hours if the manufacturing environment applied time-of-use tariff (TOU). This effort could reduce the carbon footprint in the supply chain. Moreover, the unit costs during the off-peak and the mid-peak hours are both less than during peak hours. Operational level planning using scheduling is the most effective way to reduce energy costs, as well as sustainability considerations.

As a result, this Special Issue plans to call for papers addressing sustainable scheduling, and their applications to manufacturing, the service industry, and the medical environment, as well as to practicing managers/engineers. This Special Issue features a balance between new sustainability scheduling problems and state-of-the-art algorithms. This Special Issue also provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to review and distribute essential research papers on sustainable scheduling and their applications, and to identify critical problems for further developments.

Dr. Shih-Hsin Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable scheduling
  • green scheduling in Industry 4.0
  • sustainability in manufacturing process
  • multi-objective scheduling problems
  • closed loop green supply chain
  • Artificial Intelligence Approach for sustainable scheduling
  • time-of-use electricity cost impacts the CO2 emission
  • minimization of emissions of water pollutants
  • transportation scheduling
  • consideration of order-acceptance scheduling problems

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2762 KiB  
Article
Minimizing Makespan in A Two-Machine Flowshop Problem with Processing Time Linearly Dependent on Job Waiting Time
by Dar-Li Yang and Wen-Hung Kuo
Sustainability 2019, 11(24), 6885; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11246885 - 04 Dec 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2716
Abstract
This paper is aimed at studying a two-machine flowshop scheduling where the processing times are linearly dependent on the waiting times of the jobs prior to processing on the second machine. That is, when a job is processed completely on the first machine, [...] Read more.
This paper is aimed at studying a two-machine flowshop scheduling where the processing times are linearly dependent on the waiting times of the jobs prior to processing on the second machine. That is, when a job is processed completely on the first machine, a certain delay time is required before its processing on the second machine. If we would like to reduce the actual waiting time, the processing time of the job on the second machine increases. The objective is to minimize the makespan. When the processing time is reduced, it implies that the consumption of energy is reduced. It is beneficial to environmental sustainability. We show that the proposed problem is NP-hard in the strong sense. A 0-1 mixed integer programming and a heuristic algorithm with computational experiment are proposed. Some cases solved in polynomial time are also provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Scheduling Problems in Sustainability)
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25 pages, 8897 KiB  
Article
A Novel Method of Developing Construction Projects Schedule under Rework Scenarios
by Guofeng Ma, Shan Jiang, Tiancheng Zhu and Jianyao Jia
Sustainability 2019, 11(20), 5710; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11205710 - 16 Oct 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3894
Abstract
Construction projects have faced serious schedule delays caused by rework risks. However, it appears that traditional methods are of limited value in developing applicable project schedules. This study presents an analysis on construction projects schedule development under rework scenarios by a novel method [...] Read more.
Construction projects have faced serious schedule delays caused by rework risks. However, it appears that traditional methods are of limited value in developing applicable project schedules. This study presents an analysis on construction projects schedule development under rework scenarios by a novel method named the improved critical chain design structure matrix (CCDSM). Research data are collected from a real estate development project in China. As a result, predictions of project completion duration and probability have been made. A reliable schedule considering information interactions has been developed and visualized. Rework impact areas of activities have been examined to quantitatively record the impact on project duration. To meet different demands, the method generates two more schedules setting different rework buffers. Furthermore, these activities have the potential of causing rework and have been quantified based on the calculation of two criticalities, providing an identification of rework-intensive works that should be payed close importance to, which have not be realized by previous methods. The results proved the feasibility and effectiveness of this method in developing a schedule for construction projects disturbed by rework, helping practitioners adopt measures to avoid rework-caused schedule delays and achieve sustainable development of such projects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Scheduling Problems in Sustainability)
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19 pages, 1720 KiB  
Article
Renovation Construction Process Scheduling for Long-Term Performance of Buildings: An Application Case of University Campus
by Fang-Jye Shiue, Meng-Cong Zheng, Hsin-Yun Lee, Akhmad F.K. Khitam and Pei-Ying Li
Sustainability 2019, 11(19), 5542; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11195542 - 08 Oct 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4079
Abstract
Renovation construction is employed for maintaining the long-term performance of buildings. For the occupants, the building users, renovation contributes to the acceptable levels of convenience and quality of the buildings. However, if the operation continues during the renovation for an area containing several [...] Read more.
Renovation construction is employed for maintaining the long-term performance of buildings. For the occupants, the building users, renovation contributes to the acceptable levels of convenience and quality of the buildings. However, if the operation continues during the renovation for an area containing several buildings, such as a university campus, the impacts on the occupants are unavoidable. The complicated schedule plan is needed due to the various types of buildings and types of renovation under limited resources. The goal of this study is to build a model that can help the planners to make the renovation schedule plan. Taking a university campus as an example, the occupants’ convenience rate and the long-term quality of the building are analyzed in this paper. Based on the key attributes of building renovation, this study proposes a model integrating the genetic algorithm and simulation to provide the optimal schedule plan to the planners. The model is demonstrated by an application case of a university campus of 11 buildings remaining in operation. It helps the university maintain a good level of long-term performance of buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Scheduling Problems in Sustainability)
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16 pages, 334 KiB  
Article
Order Acceptance and Scheduling Problem with Carbon Emission Reduction and Electricity Tariffs on a Single Machine
by Shih-Hsin Chen, Yeong-Cheng Liou, Yi-Hui Chen and Kun-Ching Wang
Sustainability 2019, 11(19), 5432; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11195432 - 30 Sep 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2203
Abstract
Order acceptance and scheduling (OAS) problems are realistic for enterprises. They have to select the appropriate orders according to their capacity limitations and profit consideration, and then complete these orders by their due dates or no later than their deadlines. OAS problems have [...] Read more.
Order acceptance and scheduling (OAS) problems are realistic for enterprises. They have to select the appropriate orders according to their capacity limitations and profit consideration, and then complete these orders by their due dates or no later than their deadlines. OAS problems have attracted significant attention in supply chain management. However, there is an issue that has not been studied well. To our best knowledge, no prior research examines the carbon emission cost and the time-of-use electricity cost in the OAS problems. The carbon emission during the on-peak hours is lower than the one in mid-peak and off-peak hours. However, the electricity cost during the on-peak hours is higher than the one during mid-peak and off-peak hours when time-of-use electricity (TOU) tariff is used. There is a trade-off between sustainable scheduling and the electricity cost. To calculate the objective value, a carbon tax and carbon dioxide emission factor are included when we evaluate the carbon emission cost. The objective function is to maximize the total revenue of the accepted orders and then subtract the carbon emission cost and the electricity cost under different time intervals on a single machine with sequence-dependent setup times and release date. This research proposes a mixed-integer linear programming model (MILP) and a relaxation method of MILP model to solve this problem. It is of importance because the OAS problems are practical in industry. This paper could attract the attention of academic researchers as well as the practitioners. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Scheduling Problems in Sustainability)
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22 pages, 2421 KiB  
Article
Berth Scheduling Problem Considering Traffic Limitations in the Navigation Channel
by Ya Xu, Kelei Xue and Yuquan Du
Sustainability 2018, 10(12), 4795; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su10124795 - 15 Dec 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3434
Abstract
In view of the trend of upsizing ships, the physical limitations of natural waterways, huge expenses, and unsustainable environmental impact of channel widening, this paper aims to provide a cost-efficient but applicable solution to improve the operational performance of container terminals that are [...] Read more.
In view of the trend of upsizing ships, the physical limitations of natural waterways, huge expenses, and unsustainable environmental impact of channel widening, this paper aims to provide a cost-efficient but applicable solution to improve the operational performance of container terminals that are enduring inefficiency caused by channel traffic limitations. We propose a novel berth scheduling problem considering the traffic limitations in the navigation channel, which appears in many cases including insufficient channel width, bad weather, poor visibility, channel accidents, maintenance dredging of the navigation channel, large vessels passing through the channel, and so on. To optimally utilize the berth and improve the service quality for customers, we propose a mixed-integer linear programming model to formulate the berth scheduling problem under the one-way ship traffic rule in the navigation channel. Furthermore, we develop a more generalized model which can cope with hybrid traffic in the navigation channel including one-way traffic, two-way traffic, and temporary closure of the navigation channel. For large-scale problems, a hybrid simulated annealing algorithm, which employs a problem-specific heuristic, is presented to reduce the computational time. Computational experiments are performed to evaluate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Scheduling Problems in Sustainability)
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