MILP-Formulations for the Total Adjustment Cost Problem

In this paper, we present MILP-formulations for project scheduling problems subject to general temporal constraints, where the fluctuation of resource utilizations within the project duration is to be minimized (resource leveling). Particularly, we consider a resource leveling objective function that coincides with the cumulative costs arising from increasing or decreasing the requirements of resources. The resulting “total adjustment cost problem” has achieved little attention in the literature, although it seems to be of considerable importance in real-life applications. A comprehensive performance analysis is provided showing that medium- as well as large-scale instances can be solved to optimality using CPLEX 12.4.