Title: Solving sequencing problems in spreadsheets

Authors: Kenneth R. Baker

Addresses: Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA

Abstract: Suppose that we wish to solve such sequencing problems as the flow shop scheduling problem or the travelling salesperson problem. We may wish to explore the use of state-of-the-art algorithms, but a more accessible alternative may exist. This paper reports computational experiments that shed light on how large a problem we might be able to solve, assuming that our work is done using a spreadsheet-based approach with the hardware and software available to today|s students and practitioners: a laptop and Risk Solver Platform (RSP). The results include both optimal and heuristic solutions generated by the software.

Keywords: sequencing; spreadsheets; single machine scheduling; flow shop scheduling; travelling salesperson problem; TSP; integer programming; optimisation software; heuristic solution; genetic algorithms; GAs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPS.2011.044556

International Journal of Planning and Scheduling, 2011 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.3 - 18

Received: 02 Aug 2011
Accepted: 30 Aug 2011

Published online: 31 Dec 2011 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article