Paper Title
A Two-Agent Single-Machine Scheduling Problem Considering Energy Saving
Abstract
In general, the position order of jobs in a schedule does not affect their processing times, unless there exist some
particular effects; e.g., learning effect. No or little past research has explored the relationships between the position order of
jobs and energy consumption. In this study, we introduce a single-machine two-agent scheduling problem in which we aim to
adjust the position order of jobs to reduce energy consumption. The energy consumption of a job is assumed to be reducible in
a human-machine system if this job is immediately processed after another similar job; e.g., without preheating. A
branch-and-bound algorithm is developed and four experiments are conducted. The research findings show that energy
consumption is very sensitive to objective cost. If a reasonable energy consumption limit is designated, we can reduce cost and
save energy at the same time.
Keywords - Job Scheduling, Two-agent Scheduling, Energy Saving, Single Machine, Learning Effect.