Sequencing Two-Machine Flow-Shops with Finite Intermediate Storage

The deterministic N-job two-machine flow-shop sequencing problem with finite intermediate storage is considered with the objective of minimizing the total processing time. A dynamic programming procedure is presented whereby an optimal solution to the problem may be obtained. Since the storage and computation time requirements for the solution of this model are large, it is modified so as to give a suboptimal recursive procedure which yields good solutions with much less computational effort. A further approximate method based on the technique of successive approximations is shown to provide an alternative means for tackling large problems. In addition, several new results are derived for the particular case where the buffer capacity is zero.