Scheduling a single batch processing machine with secondary resource constraints

This paper studies the problems of minimizing total completion time (ΣCi) and makespan (Cmax) on a single batch processing machine with job families and secondary resource constraints. The motivation for this problem is the burn-in operation in the final testing stage of semiconductor manufacturing, where both oven capacity and the number of boards available may constrain scheduling decisions. Because both problems are NP-hard, integer programming formulations are developed for special cases and are then used to develop heuristics. Extensive computational experiments show that the heuristics are capable of consistently obtaining good solutions in modest CPU times.