An excursion in scheduling theory: An overview of scheduling research in the twentieth century

This paper provides an excursion into various scheduling problems arising in the manufacturing environment and possible approaches that can be taken to solve them. It reviews the research in production scheduling from the perspective of designing and operating a production system and examines the research strategies adopted to find the solution of the practical problems. This review is in the form of the paradigms that evolved during the twentieth century and shows the transition in theory and practice of each paradigm. It covers the fundamental frameworks of scheduling theory, outlining various approaches that can be taken to solve (optimally or approximately) such problems, and the difficulties arising in their practical use. Subsequently, an iterative scheduling process is suggested as an extension of existing paradigms to solve practical production scheduling problems and to bridge the gap between theory and practice in production scheduling and control.