A note on a makespan minimization problem with a multi-ability learning effect

In the scheduling literature the learning effect is perceived as a process of acquiring experience by a processor (e.g. a human worker) in one ability. However, in many real-life problems the processor, during execution of jobs, increases its experience in different, very often independent, abilities (skills). In consequence, it causes the overall growth of the efficiency of the processor. According to this observation, in this paper, we bring into scheduling a new approach called multi-ability teaming that generalizes the existing ones and models more precisely real-life settings. On this basis, we focus on a makespan minimization problem with the proposed learning model and provide optimal polynomial time algorithms for its special cases, which often occur in management. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.