Dynamic Scheduling for a Single Machine System under Different Setup and Buffer Capacity Scenarios

The problem of dynamic scheduling for single machine manufacturing systems has been extensively studied in the past under different setup scenarios, mainly for systems with infinite buffer capacity. This paper addresses a general framework and investigates similarities and differences between policies optimal if setup times and costs are or are not negligible, if buffers have a finite or an infinite capacity. The cost function takes into account of backlog and surplus, but also includes a demand loss component if buffers have a finite capacity and a setup cost if not negligible. Both a steady state and a transient optimization problem are considered and already known results are compared and extended to complete the analysis.