Three scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs to minimize the total completion time

In this paper, three scheduling problems with deteriorating jobs to minimize the total completion time on a single machine are investiaated. By a deteriorating job, we mean that the processing time of the job is a function of its execution start time. The three problems correspond to three different decreasing linear functions, whose increasing counterparts have been studied in the literature. Some basic properties of the three problems are proved. Based on these properties, two of the problems are solved in O(n log n) time, where n is the number of jobs. A pseudopolynomial time algorithm is constructed to solve the third problem using dynamic programming. Finally, a comparison between the problems with job processing times being decreasing and increasing linear functions of their start times is presented, which shows that the decreasing and increasing linear models of job processing times seem to be closely related to each other. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.