This paper presents a combinatorial polynomial-time algorithm for minimizing submolular set functions. The algorithm employs a scaling scheme that uses a flow in the complete directed graph on the underlying set with each arc capacity equal to thescaled parameter. The resulting algorithm runs in...

We consider the problem of scheduling a set of n jobs on m identical parallel machines so as to minimize the weighted sum of job completion times. This problem is NP-hard in the strong sense. The best approximation result known so far was a 1/2(1 + √2)-approximation algorithm that has been...

A production system which consists of a number of parallel assembly lines is considered. On each line a certain product is manufactured observing a common cycle time. By arranging the lines in a favourable manner, it is possible to increase efficiency of the production system by combining...

Assembly line balancing problems (ALBP) arise whenever an assembly line is con- figured, redesigned or adjusted. An ALBP consists of distributing the total workload for manu- facturing any unit of the products to be assembled among the work stations along the line sub- ject to a strict or...

Assembly line balancing problems (ALBPs) arise whenever an assembly line is configured, redesigned or adjusted. An ALBP consists of distributing the total workload for manufacturing products among the work stations along the line. On the one hand, research has focussed on developing effective...

Assembly line balancing problems (ALBP) consist of distributing the total workload for manufacturing any unit of the products to be assembled among the work stations along a manufacturing line as used in the automotive or the electronics industries. Usually, it is assumed that the production...

Given an undirected, connected, weighted graph, the leaf-constrained minimum spanning tree (LCMST) problem seeks a spanning tree of the graph with smallest weight among all spanning trees of the graph, which contains at least l leaves. In this paper we have proposed two new metaheuristic...