Robust scheduling and robustness measures for the discrete time/cost trade-off problem

• Published in: European journal of operational research Vol. 207; no. 2; pp. 633 - 643
• Main Authors: Hazır, Öncü, Haouari, Mohamed, Erel, Erdal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.12.2010; Elsevier; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Series: European Journal of Operational Research
• Subjects: Algorithms; Applied sciences; Computation; cost trade-off Robustness Simulation; Estimates; Exact sciences and technology; Operational research; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Optimization; Project management; Project scheduling; Project scheduling Time; Robustness; Schedules; Scheduling; Scheduling algorithms; Scheduling, sequencing; Simulation; Studies; Time/cost trade-off; Tradeoff analysis; Tradeoffs; Uncertainty; Project scheduling; Robustness; Time/cost trade-off; Simulation; Costs; Uncertain system; Project management; Discrete time; Scheduling; Due date
• ISSN: 0377-2217; 1872-6860; 1872-6860
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2010.05.046

Projects are often subject to various sources of uncertainties that have a negative impact on activity durations and costs. Therefore, it is crucial to develop effective approaches to generate robust project schedules that are less vulnerable to disruptions caused by uncontrollable factors. In this paper, we investigate the robust discrete time/cost trade-off problem, which is a multi-mode project scheduling problem with important practical relevance. We introduce surrogate measures that aim at providing an accurate estimate of the schedule robustness. The pertinence of each proposed measure is assessed through computational experiments. Using the insights revealed by the computational study, we propose a two-stage robust scheduling algorithm. Finally, we provide evidence that the proposed approach can be extended to solve a complex robust problem with tardiness penalties and earliness revenues.