A Hybrid Method for Planning and Scheduling

We combine mixed integer linear programming (MILP) and constraint programming (CP) to solve planning and scheduling problems. Tasks are allocated to facilities using MILP and scheduled using CP, and the two are linked via logic-based Benders decomposition. Tasks assigned to a facility may run in parallel subject to resource constraints (cumulative scheduling). We solve minimum cost problems, as well as minimum makespan problems in which all tasks have the same release date and deadline. We obtain computational speedups of several orders of magnitude relative to the state of the art in both MILP and CP. We address a fundamental class of planning and scheduling problems for manufacturing and supply chain management. Tasks must be assigned to facilities and scheduled subject to release dates and deadlines. Tasks may run in parallel on a given facility provided the total resource consumption at any time remains with limits (cumulative scheduling). In our study the objective is to minimize cost or minimize makespan. The problem naturally decomposes into an assignment portion and a scheduling portion. We exploit the relative strengths of mixed integer linear programming (MILP) and constraint programming (CP) by applying MILP to the assignment problem and CP to the scheduling problem. We then link the two with a logic-based Benders algorithm. We obtain speedups of several orders of magnitude relative to the existing state of the art in both mixed integer programming (CPLEX) and constraint programming (ILOG Scheduler). As a result we solve larger instances to optimality than could be solved previously.