The tool switching problem revisited

In this note we study the tool switching problem with non-uniform tool sizes. More specifically, we consider the problem where the job sequence is given as part of the input. We show that the resulting tooling problem is strongly N P-complete, even in case of unit loading and unloading costs. On the other hand, if the capacity of the tool magazine is also given as part of the input, we show that the problem is solvable in polynomial time. These results settle the complexity of a relevant variant of the tool switching problem. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.