Single machine group scheduling problem with makespan objective and a proportional linear shortening

This paper considers a group scheduling problem with shorten (i.e., a proportional linear shortening) job processing times and ready times on a single machine. If the jobs are in the same group, they have independent and constant ready times. The setup time of a group is independent constant setup time between each group. The goal is to determine the optimal group sequence and the job sequence within the groups such that the makespan (i.e., the maximum completion time) is minimized. For the general case of the problem, an initial heuristic algorithm (an upper bound) and some lower bounds are proposed, and then a branch-and-bound algorithm can be developed to solve the problem.