Abstract: | We study a two‐machine flow shop scheduling problem with no‐wait in process, in which one of the machines is not available during a specified time interval. We consider three scenarios of handing the operation affected by the nonavailability interval. Its processing may (i) start from scratch after the interval, or (ii) be resumed from the point of interruption, or (iii) be partially restarted after the interval. The objective is to minimize the makespan. We present an approximation algorithm that for all these scenarios delivers a worst‐case ratio of 3/2. For the second scenario, we offer a 4/3‐approximation algorithm. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004 |