Viewing scheduling as an opportunistic problem-solving process

In a search for more efficient yet effective ways of solving combinatorially complex problems such as jobshop scheduling, we move towards opportunistic approaches that attempt to exploit the structure of a given problem. Rather than adhere to a single problem-solving plan, such approaches are characterized by almost continual surveillance of the current problem-solving state to possibly modify plans so that activity is consistently directed toward those actions that currently seem most promising. Opportunistic behavior may occur in problem decomposition down to selective application of scheduling heuristics. The authors developed and performed limited testing of a scheduling system, called OPIS 0, that exhibits such behavior to some extent. The results are encouraging when compared to ISIS and a dispatching system. It is believed that such opportunistic views of scheduling would lead to systems that allow more flexibility in terms of designing scheduling procedures and supporting the scheduling function.