A review and classification of scheduling objectives in unpaced flow shops for discrete manufacturing

The gap between production scheduling theory and practice still persists as theoretical scheduling models do not cover real-world characteristics such as the multidimensional nature of scheduling decisions appropriately. Moreover, the set of objectives used in classical scheduling does not fully capture multidimensional scheduling decisions. This work therefore reviews which further objectives besides the classical ones have been established so far, which objectives are currently discussed in the literature, and identifies gaps for additional objectives for unpaced flow shops with discrete products. The aim is to provide a clustering of scheduling objectives that covers the multidimensional nature of scheduling decisions holistically. The scheduling objectives are clustered with respect to the respective stakeholders of the supply chain: customer, manufacturer and supplier. Within the objectives of interest for the manufacturer, objectives are further clustered into productivity-, flow- and human-related objectives. The classification serves as basis for the choice of a meaningful subset of objectives in industrial practice.