Minimizing total completion time subject to release dates and sequence-dependent processing times

We consider the problem of scheduling jobs with release dates and sequence- dependent processing times on a single machine to minimize the total comple tion time. We show that this problem is equivalent to the Cumulative Travel ing Salesman Problem with additional time constraints. For this latter prob lem, we give a dynamic programming formulation from which lower bounds are derived. Two heuristic algorithms are proposed. Performance analysis of bot h lower bounds and heuristics on randomly generated test problems are carri ed out. Moreover, the application of the model and algorithms to the real p roblem of sequencing landing aircraft in the terminal area of a congested a irport is analyzed. Computational results on realistic data sets show that heuristic solutions can be effective in practical contexts.