PARALLEL is a program for optimizing cyclic multiproduct scheduling on continuous parallel lines according to N. V. Sahinidis and Ignacio E. Grossmann (1991). The basic algorithm applied is Generalized Benders Decomposition, although it is possible to use DICOPT++ as an option.

This interface is written in language C and it is implemented on Windows NT, IBM RS6000, HP and SUN (SunOS and Solaris) workstations. The way PARALLEL works is through the use of different menus; it is flexible and easy to use. Given the data of the problem, PARALLEL creates a new GAMS file containing the model equations and optimizes the problem using the solvers MINOS for solving the NLP subproblem and SCICONIC for solving the MILP master problem and then plots the Gantt charts.

DICOPT++ ( DIscrete and Continuos OPTimizer ) was developed by J. Viswanathan and Ignacio E. Grossmann at the Engineering Research Center (EDRC) of the Carnegie Mellon University . It is based on the extensions of the outer-approximation algorithm for equality relaxation strategy.

PARALLEL has been developed by Beatriz Bolio and Arzu Türkay under the supervision of Ignacio E. Grossmann .

References for PARALLEL:

• Sahinidis, N. V. and I. E. Grossmann, MINLP Model for cyclic multiproduct scheduling on continuous parallel lines ,
• Bolio, Beatriz and Arzu Türkay, Guidelines for PARALLEL Interface , Carnegie Mellon University, Engineering Design Research Center, Pittsburgh, PA.