A painting operation is scheduled in blocks, where each block involves painting products with a particular color. Cleaning time is required in between each pair of blocks so that the equipment can be prepared for the new color. In each cycle there is one block of each color, and the total painting time is determined by the volume of orders. However, the actual schedule length is determined by the sequence in which the blocks are scheduled, since the cleaning time depends on the color in the previous block and the color in the next block. The following table gives the number of minutes required to clean the equipment, according to the color pair.

What block sequence minimizes the amount of time spent in cleaning during a full cycle? What is the minimum number of minutes devoted to cleaning?

Transcribed Image Text:

To Color From Color 3 4 8. 6 2 2 11 13 3 11 8. 3 4 2 2 10 2 6 8. 4 3