TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploiting the characteristics of serial queues to reduce the mean and variance of flow time using combined priority rules
AU - Romero-Silva, Rodrigo
AU - Shaaban, Sabry
AU - Marsillac, Erika
AU - Hurtado, Margarita
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - This paper addresses the trade-off challenge from reducing either the mean or variance of flow time when using simple sequencing rules in balanced, multi-class, serial queues. Study results show that instead of the expected zero sum situation, a balance between the two objectives can be achieved by assigning different priority rules to different queues. The order of priority rule assignments in different queues is shown to be relevant because variability along the line creates unbalanced queue lengths for each station, depending on the characteristics of the line. Thus, it was found that a simple heuristic for reducing both the mean and the variance of flow time in non-heavy traffic environments is to assign the first queue a priority rule that reduces its mean queue length while assigning the other queues a priority rule that reduces the variance of flow time. Conversely, for very-high traffic environments, performance improvements are shown from assigning the first queue a priority rule that reduces the variance of flow time while assigning the other queues a priority rule that reduces queue length.
AB - This paper addresses the trade-off challenge from reducing either the mean or variance of flow time when using simple sequencing rules in balanced, multi-class, serial queues. Study results show that instead of the expected zero sum situation, a balance between the two objectives can be achieved by assigning different priority rules to different queues. The order of priority rule assignments in different queues is shown to be relevant because variability along the line creates unbalanced queue lengths for each station, depending on the characteristics of the line. Thus, it was found that a simple heuristic for reducing both the mean and the variance of flow time in non-heavy traffic environments is to assign the first queue a priority rule that reduces its mean queue length while assigning the other queues a priority rule that reduces the variance of flow time. Conversely, for very-high traffic environments, performance improvements are shown from assigning the first queue a priority rule that reduces the variance of flow time while assigning the other queues a priority rule that reduces queue length.
KW - Balanced flow-shop
KW - Discrete event simulation
KW - Dispatching rules
KW - Dynamic scheduling
KW - Tandem queues
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.11.023
DO - 10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.11.023
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85036660690
SN - 0925-5273
VL - 196
SP - 211
EP - 225
JO - International Journal of Production Economics
JF - International Journal of Production Economics
ER -