Scheduling to minimize product design time using a genetic algorithm

We consider a scheduling problem encountered in a semiconductor manufacturing company where the time for designing products (or makespan) needs to be minimized. The problem can be stated as follows: there are sets of tasks (or jobs) to be performed in a design project by a set of engineers. Since engineers are qualified to perform a certain set of jobs, so they are considered to be nonidentical. However, a job can be worked on by more than one engineer while an engineer can work on one job at a time. Moreover, there is a precedence relation among the jobs. The problem is to schedule jobs to engineers so that the make-span is minimized. We develop a Genetic Algorithm (GA) for this problem, which is one of combinatorial optimization subjects to many practical constraints. The GA is found to be very effective for solving this intractable problem. This research attempts to study this scheduling problem in a scientific manner and to propose ways in which the task can be automated with the help of an algorithm embedded in a computer program. © 1999 Taylor & Francis Ltd.