Professor Logen Logendran delivered a talk on“Hybrid Flow Shop Batch Scheduling Problem with a Bi-criteria Objective”

Dr. R. Logen Logendran is a Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and Graduate Program Chair in the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA. He delivered a talk on “Hybrid Flow Shop Batch Scheduling Problem with a Bi-criteria Objective”at the Faculty of Engineering on 2nd August 2016. The participants includes Undergraduate students, Industrial Engineers, Staff members and researchers. It was excellent to understand the optimum schedule on industrial machinery’s operations starting from a resource person with strong knowledge in this section.

Abstract of the talk:

This presentation focuses on the hybrid flow shop batch scheduling problem where sequence-dependent family setup times are present and the objective is to simultaneously minimize the weighted sum of total weighted completion time and total weighted tardiness. In particular, it disregards the group technology assumptions by allowing for the possibility of splitting pre-determined groups of jobs into inconsistent batches in order to improve the operational efficiency. A set of problems of various sizes is considered to show the benefits of batching in group scheduling. Since the problem is strongly NP-hard, an algorithm based upon tabu search is developed at three levels, which move back and forth between batching and scheduling phases. The tabu search algorithm consists of several distinguishing features, including the stage-based improvement procedure to consider the move interdependency. The initial solution finding mechanism is implemented to trigger the search into the solution space. The efficiency and effectiveness of the algorithm is verified with the help of the results found by CPLEX. The results show that the algorithm, based on tabu search and the stage-based improvement procedure, could find solutions at least as good as CPLEX, but in drastically shorter computational time. In order to reflect the real industry requirements, dynamic machine availability times, dynamic job release times, machine eligibility and machine capability for processing jobs, desired lower bounds on batch sizes, and job skipping are considered.

Biography of the speaker:

Dr. Logendran received his Bachelor of Science Degree with honors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sri Lanka, Master of Engineering Degree (with thesis) in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management from Oklahoma State University. Dr. Logendran has co-edited a book titled Group Technology & Cellular Manufacturing: Methodologies and Applications, and has authored or coauthored more than 125 publications in archival journals, book chapters, and refereed conference proceedings.

Most recently, Dr. Logendran received the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award in Academics and Research Excellence from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. He received the Best Paper Award twice (in 2009 and 2012) for papers presented at international conferences and published in the conference proceedings. His areas of research include cellular manufacturing, group scheduling, supply chain scheduling, vehicle routing and scheduling, facilities layout and design, manufacturing simulation, and integration of design and manufacturing. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Oregon Metals Initiative, Oregon Department of Transportation, TransNow, Port of Portland, Oregon Economic Development Agency, and industry. In 1996, he received the “Most Favorite Teacher of the Year” award by the IIE Student Chapter at Oregon State University. Prior to that, the IIE Student Chapter at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville gave him the “Outstanding Industrial Engineering Faculty Member Award” in appreciation of excellence in teaching for 1987-88. Besides teaching, he has held research fellowship positions with various organizations, including Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) – McClellan Air Force Base, Sacramento, CA; The Boeing Company, Everett, WA; and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, and has made significant contributions aimed at solving industryrelevant problems. Dr. Logendran was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Science, Malaysia in 2000. Currently he serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and has previously (1997-2008) served on the editorial board of the IIE Transactions on Design and Manufacturing.

Dr. Logendran is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), a Senior Member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), a Member of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS) and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), and Faculty Advisor for the Alpha Pi Mu Industrial Engineering Honor Society at Oregon State University.