Scheduling of Repetitive Projects with Multiple Objectives by Multiple Crew Model

In repetitive projects, different activities get repeated from one location to another. In many such cases, there will be different crew alternatives on hand for completing an activity and choosing the finest option from available peculiar resource choices for each activity is a crucial responsibility for the managers of a project. Obtaining a best schedule, examining various project objectives (total expenditure, total time span etc.) is of greatest significance in any project sector. The present paper proposes a mathematical model considering a multiple crew model, which can satisfy the various objectives related to the constraints like crew availability in various units, precedence relationship between various activities and units and penalty cost corresponding to the delaying day of each activity in every area of site etc. The present model is optimally solved using a mathematical solver and justified its authenticity by applying complete enumeration technique (in the case of small size problems). For abundant type problems, a heuristic technique is absolutely necessary to get a best schedule, as the mathematical solver, as expected, fails because of the computational complexity involved. Therefore, this paper also proposes a new heuristic methodology. The efficiency of the proposed method was compared using the optimal solutions obtained from the developed mathematical model, and it can be seen that the heuristic methodology provided a near-optimal solution. In this paper, the multiple crew model was also compared with the single crew model, and it can be seen that the present model yielded comparatively better results than the previous one.