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Approximation results in parallel machnies stochastic scheduling

  • Multiple-Machine Scheduling
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Abstract

We consider scheduling a batch of jobs with stochastic processing times on parallel machines. We derive various new formulae for the expected flowtime and weighted flowtime under general scheduling rules. Smith's Rule, which orders job starts by decreasing ratio of weight to expected processing time provides a natural heuristic for this problem. We obtain a bound on the worst case difference between the expected weighted flow time under Smith's Rule and under an optimal policy. For a wide class of processing time distributions, this bound is of oderO(1) and does not increase with the number of jobs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 30332-0205, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Gideon Weiss

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  1. Gideon Weiss
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Additional information

This research was supported in part by NSF Grant ECS-8712798.

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Weiss, G. Approximation results in parallel machnies stochastic scheduling. Ann Oper Res 26, 195–242 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02248591

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