Scheduling to minimize product design time using a genetic algorithm

We consider a scheduling problem encountered in a semiconductor manufacturi ng company where the time for designing products (or makespan) needs to be minimized. The problem can be stated as follows: there are sets of tasks (o r jobs) to be performed in a design project by a set of engineers. Since en gineers are qualified to perform a certain set of jobs, so they are conside red to be nonidentical. However, a job can be worked on by more than one en gineer while an engineer can work on one job at a time. Moreover, there is a precedence relation among the jobs. The problem is to schedule jobs to en gineers so that the makespan is minimized. We develop a Genetic Algorithm ( GA) for this problem, which is one of combinatorial optimization subjects t o many practical constraints. The GA is found to be very effective for solv ing this intractable problem. This research attempts to study this scheduli ng problem in a scientific manner and to propose ways in which the task can be automated with the help of an algorithm embedded in a computer program.