Dual criteria scheduling on a two-machine flowshop subject to random breakdowns

Decision makers often consider multiple objectives when making scheduling decisions. However, very little research has been done in multiple machine environments with multiple objectives. Furthermore, only a couple of researchers considered flowshops with machine breakdowns while, in reality, machines are subject to random breakdowns. We consider a two-machine flowshop scheduling problem, where machines suffer random breakdowns and processing times are constant, with respect to both makespan and maximum lateness objective functions. We provide an elimination criterion in a two-machine flowshop when both machines are subject to random breakdowns. We show that the longest processing time and the shortest processing time orders are optimal with respect to both criteria in a two-machine ordered flowshop when the first or the second machine, respectively, suffers stochastic breakdowns.