This paper studies three-machine specially structured flow-shop problems under rental Policy III. Here under Policy III, it is considered that first machine will be taken on rent in the starting of processing the jobs; second machine will be taken on rent when the first job is completed on first machine and third machine is taken on rent when first job is completed on second machine. The objective is to obtain a sequence which minimizes the total rental cost of the machines. An algorithm is developed using Branch-and-Bound technique. The algorithm is illustrated through a numerical example.
Keywords
Flow-shop scheduling, Elapsed Time, Idle Time Rental Cost
