Demonstrating Johnson's algorithm via resource-constrained scheduling

Abstract

The celebrated Johnson's algorithm to solve the two-machine flowshop scheduling problem to minimise the makespan plays a prominent role in scheduling research. In using resource-constrained scheduling to interpret Johnson's algorithm in teaching scheduling theory and operations management, we have received positive student feedback on the perceived intuition. We demonstrate this idea and show that the resource-constrained scheduling concept also helps simplify the proofs of some classical scheduling results.