A competitive heuristic solution technique for Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling

In this work a new heuristic solution technique for the Resource-Constraine d Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) is proposed. This technique is a hybri d multi-pass method that combines random sampling procedures with a backwar d-forward method. The impact of each component of the algorithm is evaluate d through a step-wise computational analysis which in addition permits the value of their parameters to be specified. Furthermore, the performance of the new technique is evaluated against the best currently available heurist ics using a well known set of instances. The results obtained point out tha t the new technique greatly outperforms both the heuristics and metaheurist ics currently available for the RCPSP being thus competitive with the best heuristic solution techniques for this problem.