Dynamic job assignment heuristics for multi-server batch operations - a cost based approach

In many industries production facilities are used which process products in a
batch-wise manner. Guided by research in the aircraft industry, where the
process of hardening synthetic aircraft parts was studied, we propose a new
control strategy for these types of systems. Given the availability of
information on a few near future arrivals the strategy decides on when to
schedule a job in order to minimize logistical costs. The fact that different cost
structures can be incorporated, makes it a valuable tool for use in practical
situations in business. The potential of the new strategy is demonstrated by an
extensive series of simulation experiments, in which its response for various
system configurations was tested in comparison with existing heuristics.