This paper investigates the solution of manufacturing scheduling problems u
sing different distributed computing schemes. The focus of this paper is on
determining the statistically significant effects of a distributed compute
r model with respect to elapsed solution time and the amount of problem spa
ce investigated. Statistical inferences are drawn with respect to the numbe
r of processors and how the problem is partitioned. The best combinations o
f the number of processors and partitioning schemes are presented with resp
ect to problem scenario and size. Additionally, comparisons are made with r
espect to the performance of different configurations of the distributed co
mputer model. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.