Sequencing Problem

Kaushal Patel
Department of Mathematics
Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat
 Introduction
• The short - term schedules shows an optimal sequence
and time in which jobs are processed as well as show
timetable for job equipment, people, materials, facilities
and all other resources that needed to support the
production plan
• The schedules should use resources efficiently to give
low costs and high utilization
• Minimizing customer wait time for a product, meeting
promised delivery dates, keeping stoke levels low,
giving preferred working pattern, minimizing waiting
time of patients in a hospital for different types of test
 General sequencing Problem
• Let there be ‘n’ jobs to be performed one at a time
on each of ‘m’ machines.
• The sequence of the machine in which each job
should be performed is given.
• The actual expected time required by the jobs on
each of the machines is also given
• To find the sequence which minimize the total
elapsed time between the start of the job in the
first machine and the completion of the last job on
the last machine
 Definitions
• Number of Machine:The number of machine refer to the number of service
facilities through which job must pass before it is assumed to be completed
• Processing time: it is the time required by a job on each machine
• Processing order: it refers to the order in which machines are required for
completion of the job
• Idle time for machine: it is a time for which a machine does not have a job
to process
• Total elapsed time: it is the time interval between starting the first job and
completing the last job including idle time in order by the given set of
machine
• No passing rule: It refers to the rule of maintaining the order in which jobs
are to be processed on given machines
 Algorithm of 2-machine m-jobs
Step-1 List the jobs along with their processing times on each machine in a
table as shown below:

Processing time on machine 1 2 3 … N

M1 T11 T12 T13 … T1n
Step-2 Examine
M2 the columns for processing
T21 timeT22 onTeach …machine
T M1 & M2
23 2n
and fine the smallest processing time in each column ie. Find Min(T1,j ,T2,j)
Step-3 If the smallest processing time is on Machine M1 then place the job in
the first available position in the table. If the processing time is on machine
M2 then place the job in the last available position in the sequence
 Algorithm of 2-machine m-jobs
Step-4 If there is a tie in the selecting the minimum
(1) Minimum along processing time is in same for the
machine ie. Min(t1k,t2r)=t1k=t2r then process the kth job first
then the rth job last
(2) if the tie for the minimum occurs among processing
time t1j on machine M1 only, then select the job
corresponding to the smallest job subscript first
(3) if the tie for the minimum occurs among processing time
t2j on machine M2 only, then select the job corresponding to
the smallest job subscript last
 Algorithm of 2-machine m-jobs

Step-5 Calculate the ideal time for machine M 1 &M2

(a) Ideal time for machine M1= (total elapsed time) – (time
when the last job in a sequence finishes on machine M 1)
(b) Ideal time for machine M2 = time at which the first job in
a sequence finishes on machine M1 – total [(time when the
jth job in a sequence starts on machine M2) – (time when
the (j-1)th job in a sequence finishes on machine M 2)]
Step-6 The total elapsed time to process all jobs through two
machine is given by time when the nth job in a sequence
finishes on machine M2
 Example

• Find the sequence that minimize the total elapsed

time required to complete the tasks on two
machine
task a b c d e f g h I
M1 2 5 4 9 6 8 7 5 4
M2 6 8 7 4 3 9 3 8 11
 task a b c d e f g h I
M1 2 5 4 9 6 8 7 5 4
M2 6 8 7 4 3 9 3 8 11
Machine /Job M1 Idle time M2 Idle time

A 0-2 0 2–8 2-0 = 2

B 2-7 2-2=0 8 – 16 8-8 =0
C 7 - 11 7-7=0 16 – 23 16-16=0
D 11 - 20 11-11=0 23 – 27 23-23=0
E 20 - 26 20-20=0 27 – 30 27-27=0
F 26 - 34 26-26=0 34 - 43 34-30=4
G 34 - 41 34-34=0 43 - 46 43-43=0
H 41 - 46 41-41=0 46 - 54 46-46=0
I 46 - 50 46-46=0 54 - 65 54-54=0
0+(65-50)=15 6
Idle time is 15 Idle time is 06
Total Elapse time for completion of all jobs is 65
 task a b c d e f g h I
M1 2 5 4 9 6 8 7 5 4
M2 6 8 7 4 3 9 3 8 11
Machine M1 M2
A 0–2 0 2–8 2
C 2-6 0 8 - 15 0
I 6 - 10 0 15 – 26 0
B 10 - 15 0 26 - 34 0
H 15 - 20 0 34 - 42 0
E 20 – 26 0 42 - 45 0
G 26 - 33 0 45 - 48 0
F 33 - 41 0 48 - 57 0
D 41 - 50 0 57 - 61 0
M1 11 M2 2
Total Elapsed 61
time
 Solution
Task a b c d e f g h I
M1 2 5 4 9 6 8 7 5 4
M2 6 8 7 4 3 9 3 8 11
minimum

task a
 Solution
Task b c d e f g h I
M1 5 4 9 6 8 7 5 4
M2 8 7 4 3 9 3 8 11
minimum

task a g e
 Solution
Task b c d f h I
M1 5 4 9 8 5 4
M2 8 7 4 9 8 11
minimum

task a c I d g e
 Solution
Task b f h
M1 5 8 5
M2 8 9 8
minimum

task a c I b h f d g e
 task a b c d e f g h I
M1 2 5 4 9 6 8 7 5 4
M2 6 8 7 4 3 9 3 8 11
Machine M1 Idle time of M2
jobs M1
A 0–2 0 2–8 2
C 2–6 0 8 – 15 0
I 6 – 10 0 15 – 26 0
B 10 – 15 0 26 – 34 0
H 15 – 20 0 34 – 42 0
F 20 – 28 0 42 – 51 0
D 28 – 37 0 51 – 55 0
G 37 – 44 0 55 – 58 0
E 44 - 50 0 + 11 58 – 61 0
M1 11 M2 2
Total Elapsed 61
 Example
• Following table shows the machine time for
five jobs to be processed on two different
machine
task a b c d e
M1 3 7 4 5 7
M2 6 2 7 3 4
Machine M1 Idle time of M2
jobs M1
A 0–3 0 3–9 3
C 3–7 0 9 – 16 0
E 7 – 14 0 16 – 20 0
D 14 – 19 0 20 – 23 0
B 19 – 26 0+2 26 – 28 3
0+0+0+0+0+2 3+0+0+0+3

Idle time for M1 2 M2 6

Total Elapsed 28 (start of the (0 – 28)
time whole process
to the end of
whole
process)
 Example
• A manufactured company processes 6 different jobs on
two machine A and B. Number of unit of each job and its
processing time on A and B are given below
Job Unit of each job Processing time
Mach. - A Mach. – B
1 3 5 8
2 4 16 7
3 2 6 11
4 5 3 5
5 2 9 7.5
6 3 6 14
 3-machines m-jobs
• Extension of 2-machine m-jobs
• Each job is to be processed through three machine
M1, M2, M3. In the specific order
• An optimal solution to this problem can be obtain if
(1) the minimum processing time on machine M1 is at
last as great as the maximum processing time on
machine M2 ie. min t1j >= max t2j
(2) the minimum processing time on machine M3 is
at last as great as the maximum time on machine M2
ie. Min t3j >= max t2j
 Algorithm of 3-machine m-jobs
Step-1 Examine the processing time of given
jobs on all three machines and if either one
or both the above condition holds then
Step-2 introduce two fictitious machine G & H
(1) tgj=t1j+t2j and thj=t2j+t3j
Step-3 determine the optimum sequence of jobs
for 2-machine m-jobs discuss earlier
 Min (M1)>=max(M2)  6>=6  true
Min(M3)>=max(M2)  4>=6  false

Example
• Find the sequence that minimize the total time
required to complete the tasks on three machine in
order M1M2M3
Task a b c d e
M1 8 10 6 7 11 Min
M2 5 6 2 3 4 Max
M3 4 9 8 6 5 Min
task A B C D E
G=M1+M2 G 8+5=13 10+6=1 6+2=8 7+3=10 11+4=1
H=M2+M3 6 5
 Solution
• Here min(tM1,j)=6; min(tM3,j)=4; max(tM2,j)=6
• Since min(tM1,j) >= Max(tM2,j) for all j
• The given problem can be converted in to 5-job
2-machine
• The processing time on two machine G and H
can be determined by the relationships
tGj=tAj+tBj
tHj=tBj+tCj
• The processing time for the new problem are given
below

task A B C D E
G 8+5=13 10+6=1 6+2=8 7+3=10 11+4=1
6 5
• HWhen5+4=9 6+9=15 2+8=10 3+6=9 4+5=9
the algorithm describe for n jobs on two
machines is applied to this problem, the optimum
sequence so obtain is given by

Task C B E A D
 • The total minimum elapsed time is

Machine M1 Machine M2 Machine M3

job sequence
time In Time Out time In Time Out time In Time Out
3 (c) 0 6 6 8 8 16
2(B) 6 16 16 22 22 31
5 (E) 16 27 27 31 31 36
• The total elapsed
1(a) 27 time
35is 51 hours.
35 40 40 44
4(d) 35 for machine
• The ideal time 42 M1,42M2, M3 is
459 (51-42)45hours , 51
31 =((51-45)+(6-0)+(16-8)+(27-22)+(35-31)+(42-40))hours,
and 19 =((45-44)+(40-36)+(22-16) +(8-0)), hours
respectively.
 n-machines m-jobs
• Extension of 2-machine m-jobs and 3-machine m-jobs
• Each job is to be processed through three machine M 1,
M2, M3…Mn. In the specific order
• An optimal solution to this problem can be obtain if
(1) the minimum processing time on machine M1 is at
last as great as the maximum processing time on
machine M2,…, Mn-1 ie. min {t1j} >= max {tij }

(2) the minimum processing time on machine Mn is at last

as great as the maximum time on machine M2,…, Mn-1
ie. Min {tnj} >= max {tij}
 Algorithm of n-machine m-jobs
Step-1 Examine the processing time of given
jobs on all n-machines and if either one or
both the above condition holds then
Step-2 introduce two fictitious machine G & H
(1) tgj=t1j+t2j+…+ tn-1j and thj=t2j+t3j +…+ tnj
Step-3 determine the optimum sequence of jobs
for 2-machine m-jobs discuss earlier
 Example
• Find the sequence that minimize the total time required to
complete the tasks on five machine in order
M1,M2,M3,M4,M5. Also find the total elapsed time
machine
job
m1 m2 m3 m4 m5
A 7 5 2 3 9
B 6 6 4 5 10
C 5 4 5 6 8
D 8 3 3 2 6
 machine
job
m1 m2 m3 m4 m5
A 7 5 2 3 9
B 6 6 4 5 10
C 5 4 5 6 8
D 8 3 3 2 6

MAXIMUM

MINIMUM
Since the condition min(tM5,j)>=max(tM2,j,tM3,j,tm4,j) is satisfy
Therefore the given problem can be converted into a four jobs and
Two machine problem as G and H
• The processing time for the new problem are given
below

task A B C D
G 7+5+2+3=17 6+6+4+5=21 5+4+5+6=20 8+3+3+2=16
H 5+2+3+9=19 6+4+5+10=25 4+5+6+8=23 3+3+2+6=14

• When the algorithm describe for n jobs on two

machines is applied to this problem, the optimum
sequence so obtain is given by

Task A C B D
 MACHINE
JOB SEQUENCE
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5
A 0-7 7-12 12-14 14-17 17-26
C 7-12 12-16 16-21 21-27 27-35
B 12-18 18-24 24-28 28-33 35-45
D 18-26 26-29 29-32 33-35 45-51

•The total elapsed time is 51 hours.

•Ideal time for machine M1,M2,M3,M4 and M5
are 25, 33,37,35,18 respectively

•
 job
JOB SEQUENCE
A B C D E F
Machine M1 8 3 7 2 5 1
Machine M2 3 4 5 2 1 6
Machine M3 8 7 6 9 10 9

job
JOB SEQUENCE
1 2 3 4 5 6
Turning 3 12 5 2 9 11
Threading 8 6 4 6 3 1
knurling 13 14 9 12 8 13

MACHINE
JOB SEQUENCE
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5
A 6 4 1 2 8
B 5 5 3 4 9
C 4 3 4 5 7
D 7 2 2 1 5