Scheduling algorithms for flexible flowshops: Worst and average case performance

The authors discuss the performance of scheduling algorithms for a certain kind of manufacturing environment, called the ‘Flexible Flowshop’, which consists of a certain number of machine centers. Each center has one or more identical parallel machines. Each part is processed by at most one machine in each center. The problem of finding minimum finished time schedules is considered. Heuristic algorithms are presented and are studied in the worst and average case performance contexts.