Multiple machine scheduling stands for the assignment of tasks to machine elements of the system to facilitate performance and produce goods in a time and cost-efficient manner. I have learned that scheduling multiple paralleled lines of machines to produce complex results is standard procedure at the majority of production plants (Akkiraju et al., 1998). At the same time, sequence dependency and downstream considerations seem to be a big problem for these machines.
The article by Akkiraju et al. (1998) provides instructions on how to set up multiple machine scheduling for product delivery utilizing the A-team framework. It stands for Asynchronous team, which focuses on the agents cooperating and exchanging results. The provided example is utilized in the paper manufacturing industry. I have learned that the framework considers various issues associated with multiple machine manufacturing, such as dealing with fixed costs, assigning jobs, and overcoming machine restrictions. A-team allows for minimizing weighted tardiness and job-machine costs by enabling agents to work together to produce better results than individual agents (Akkiraju et al, 1998). The article identifies three types of actors to be implemented in multiple machine scheduling: constructors, improvers, and destroyers (Akkiraju et al, 1998). Constructors create solutions for problems associated with the schedule in the product-making, improvers modify these solutions to fit the current agenda, and destroyers remove redundant schedules.
Some of the important take-aways from the article that I made for myself are that A-team works as an effective solution for scheduling jobs on non-identical machines that can be utilized to complete multiple objectives. Scheduling is an important part of any production process, and the effectiveness, lack of tardiness, and non-repetitiveness are some of the important parameters associated with product manufacturing using multiple machine scheduling (Akkiraju et al, 1998). A-team may solve some of these issues, but its effectiveness in other settings is yet unclear.
Reference
Akkiraju, R., Keskinocak, P., Murthy, S., & Wu, F. (1998). Multi machine scheduling: an agent-based approach. Web.