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Solution approaches to large shift scheduling problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2008

Monia Rekik
Affiliation:
École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-Ville Montréal, H3C 3A7, Canada
Jean-François Cordeau
Affiliation:
HEC Montréal and GERAD, 3000, chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal H3T 2A7, Canada; [email protected]
François Soumis
Affiliation:
École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-Ville Montréal, H3C 3A7, Canada
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Abstract

This paper considers large shift scheduling problems with different shiftstart times and lengths, fractionable breaks and work stretch durationrestrictions. Two solution approaches are proposed to solve the problemsover a multiple-day planning horizon. The first approach is based on alocal branching strategy and the second one is based on a temporaldecomposition of the problem. Local branching is veryefficient in finding good feasible solutions when compared to a classicalbranch-and-bound procedure. However, the decomposition approach has theadvantage of yielding feasible solutions in short computing times, even for difficult instances.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, ROADEF, SMAI, 2008

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