A Hybrid Fuzzy Knowledge-Based Expert System and Genetic Algorithm for efficient selection and assignment of Material Handling Equipment

Material Handling (MH) is one of the key issues for every production site and has a great impact on manufacturing costs. The core concern in the design of a MH system is selecting the most suitable equipment for every MH operation and optimising them totally in order to attain an optimum solution. This paper presents a hybrid method for the selection and assignment of the most appropriate Material Handling Equipment (MHE). In the first phase, the system selects the most appropriate MHE types for every MH operation in a given application using a Fuzzy Knowledge-Based Expert System consisting of two sets of rules: Crisp Rules and Fuzzy Rules. In the second phase, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) searches throughout the feasible solution space, constituting of all possible combinations of the feasible equipment specified in the previous phase, in order to discover optimum solutions. The validity of the methodology developed in this paper is proved through the use of a real problem. Finally a comparison of the method with the other available publicised methods reveals the effectiveness of this hybrid approach.

[1]  David E. Mulcahy,et al.  Materials handling handbook , 1998 .

[2]  A. W. Pemberton.  Plant layout and materials handling , 1974 .

[3]  Michael G. Kay,et al.  Mathes: An expert system for material handling equipment selection , 1988 .

[4]  Pius J. Egbelu,et al.  ADVISOR: A computer-aided material handling equipment selection system , 1995 .

[5]  P. S. Welgama,et al.  A hybrid knowledge based/optimization system for automated selection of materials handling system , 1995 .

[6]  Dileep R. Sule,et al.  Computerized materials handling and facility layout design , 1989 .

[7]  Chiwoon Cho,et al.  Design of a web-based integrated material handling system for manufacturing applications , 2005 .

[8]  R. C. Berkan,et al.  Fuzzy systems design principles - building fuzzy IF-THEN rule bases , 1997 .

[9]  Raymond A. Kulwiec.  Materials Handling Handbook , 1985 .

[10]  G. Hogg,et al.  A construction algorithm for the selection and assignment of materials handling equipment , 1985 .

[11]  Yang-Byung Park.  ICMESE: Intelligent consultant system for material handling equipment selection and evaluation , 1996 .

[12]  R. S. Lashkari,et al.  A multi-objective model of operation allocation and material handling system selection in FMS design , 2007 .

[13]  James MacGregor Apple.  Plant Layout and Materials Handling , 1977 .

[14]  J. O. Matson,et al.  EXCITE: Expert consultant for in-plant transportation equipment , 1992 .

[15]  Felix T.S. Chan.  Design of material handling equipment selection system: an integration of expert system with analytic hierarchy process approach , 2002 .