A branch-and-bound algorithm for the three-machine flowshop scheduling problem with bicriteria of makespan and total flowtime

This paper addresses the three-machine flowshop scheduling problem with a bicriteria of minimizing a weighted sum of makespan and total flowtime. Three lower bounds, an upper bound, and several dominance relations are developed. The upper bound is developed using a two-phase hybrid heuristic method. A branch-and-bound algorithm, incorporating the developed bounds and dominance relations, is presented. An extensive computational analysis on randomly generated problems is conducted. The analysis indicates that the proposed bounds, dominance relations, and branch-and-bound algorithm are efficient.