Scheduling with variable time slot costs

In this article, we study a class of new scheduling models where time slot costs have to be taken into consideration. In such models, processing a job will incur certain cost which is determined by the time slots occupied by the job in a schedule. The models apply when operational costs vary over time. The objective of the scheduling models is to minimize the total time slot costs plus a traditional scheduling performance measure. We consider the following performance measures: total completion time, maximum lateness/tardiness, total weighted number of tardy jobs, and total tardiness. We prove the intractability of the models under general parameters and provide polynomial‐time algorithms for special cases with non‐increasing time slot costs.© 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010