Scheduling for a Reconfigurable Manufacturing System with Multiple Process Plans and Limited Pallets/Fixtures

A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is an advanced system designed at the outset for rapid changes in its hardware and software components in order to quickly adjust its production capacity and functionally. Among various operational decisions, this study considers the scheduling problem that determines the input sequence and schedule at the same time for a given set of parts. In particular, we consider the practical constraints that the numbers of pallets/fixtures are limited and hence a part can be released into the system only when the fixture required for the part is available. To solve the integrated input sequencing and scheduling problems, we suggest a priority rule based approach in which the two sub-problems are solved using a combination of priority rules. To show the effectiveness of various rule combinations, a simulation experiment was done on the data for a real RMS, and the test results are reported. Keywords—Reconfigurable manufacturing system, scheduling, priority rules, multiple process plans, pallets/fixtures

[1]  Steven A. Melnyk,et al.  Order review/release: research issues and perspectives , 1989 .

[2]  Zhiming Wu,et al.  An effective hybrid optimization approach for multi-objective flexible job-shop scheduling problems , 2005, Comput. Ind. Eng..

[3]  QI Er-shi.  Advanced Planning and Scheduling with Outsourcing in Manufacturing Supply Chain , 2005 .

[4]  L. F. Escudero,et al.  An inexact algorithm for part input sequencing and scheduling with side constraints in FMS , 1989 .

[5]  Chinyao Low,et al.  Mathematical modelling and heuristic approaches to operation scheduling problems in an FMS environment , 2001 .

[6]  Lale Özbakir,et al.  Using multiple objective tabu search and grammars to model and solve multi-objective flexible job shop scheduling problems , 2004, J. Intell. Manuf..

[7]  Hyung Rim Choi,et al.  A Genetic Algorithm for Integration of Process Planning and Scheduling in a Job Shop , 2006, Australian Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

[8]  Yeong-Dae Kim,et al.  Two-stage heuristic algorithms for part input sequencing in flexible manufacturing systems , 2001, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[9]  Jean-Charles Billaut,et al.  A tabu search and a genetic algorithm for solving a bicriteria general job shop scheduling problem , 2008, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[10]  Hyoung-Ho Doh,et al.  A priority scheduling approach for flexible job shops with multiple process plans , 2013 .

[11]  K. E. Stecke,et al.  Procedures to determine part mix ratios for independent demands in flexible manufacturing systems , 1992 .

[12]  Ying-Chin Ho,et al.  Solving cell formation problems in a manufacturing environment with flexible processing and routeing capabilities , 1996 .

[13]  Jesuk Ko,et al.  A symbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the integration of process planning and job shop scheduling , 2003, Comput. Oper. Res..

[14]  Mitsuo Gen,et al.  A hybrid genetic and variable neighborhood descent algorithm for flexible job shop scheduling problems , 2008, Comput. Oper. Res..

[15]  Robert M. O'Keefe,et al.  Part input into a flexible flow system: An evaluation of look-ahead simulation and a fuzzy rule base , 1992 .

[16]  Chinyao Low,et al.  Modelling and heuristics of FMS scheduling with multiple objectives , 2006, Comput. Oper. Res..

[17]  Lihui Wang,et al.  Reconfigurable manufacturing systems: the state of the art , 2008 .

[18]  F. Musharavati.  RECONFIGURABLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS , 2010 .

[19]  B. Durga Prasad,et al.  Optimization of Fms Scheduling Using Non-Traditional Techniques , 2010 .

[20]  A. Galip Ulsoy,et al.  Trends and perspectives in flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing systems , 2002, J. Intell. Manuf..

[21]  T. Karthikeyan,et al.  Scheduling decisions in FMS using a heuristic approach , 2003 .

[22]  Yeong-Dae Kim,et al.  Scheduling algorithms for flexible manufacturing systems with partially grouped machines , 1999 .

[23]  Lale Özbakır,et al.  Mathematical models for job-shop scheduling problems with routing and process plan flexibility , 2010 .

[24]  A. G. U Lso,et al.  Reconfigurable manufacturing systems: Key to future manufacturing , 2000 .

[25]  Kathryn E. Stecke,et al.  On the robustness of using balanced part mix ratios to determine cyclic part input sequences into flexible flow systems , 1996 .

[26]  Hyoung-Ho Doh,et al.  Loading algorithms for flexible manufacturing systems with partially grouped unrelated machines and additional tooling constraints , 2012 .

[27]  Adil Baykasoğlu,et al.  Linguistic-based meta-heuristic optimization model for flexible job shop scheduling , 2002 .