Hybridation of Bayesian networks and evolutionary algorithms for multi-objective optimization in an integrated product design and project management context

A better integration of preliminary product design and project management processes at early steps of system design is nowadays a key industrial issue. Therefore, the aim is to make firms evolve from classical sequential approach (first product design the project design and management) to new integrated approaches. In this paper, a model for integrated product/project optimization is first proposed which allows taking into account simultaneously decisions coming from the product and project managers. However, the resulting model has an important underlying complexity, and a multi-objective optimization technique is required to provide managers with appropriate scenarios in a reasonable amount of time. The proposed approach is based on an original evolutionary algorithm called evolutionary algorithm oriented by knowledge (EAOK). This algorithm is based on the interaction between an adapted evolutionary algorithm and a model of knowledge (MoK) used for giving relevant orientations during the search process. The evolutionary operators of the EA are modified in order to take into account these orientations. The MoK is based on the Bayesian Network formalism and is built both from expert knowledge and from individuals generated by the EA. A learning process permits to update probabilities of the BN from a set of selected individuals. At each cycle of the EA, probabilities contained into the MoK are used to give some bias to the new evolutionary operators. This method ensures both a faster and effective optimization, but it also provides the decision maker with a graphic and interactive model of knowledge linked to the studied project. An experimental platform has been developed to experiment the algorithm and a large campaign of tests permits to compare different strategies as well as the benefits of this novel approach in comparison with a classical EA

Towards product platform introduction: optimising commonality of components

Companies that design and manufacture products for a wide range of related applications need to offer the right product for each use. A platform design strategy allows designing the product range based on product platforms, where some of the components and systems are common across the range whereas other components are individual for each product variant. This paper presents the problems that a company faces when trying to introduce a platform strategy and outlines a method to find suitable components to be made common. The method is shown with a simple case. The approach uses fuzzy logic to obtain a suitable criterion to assess the overall value of the product line and a genetic algorithm for finding the set of components to be made commo

Multi-agent system for dynamic manufacturing system optimization

This paper deals with the application of multi-agent system concept for optimization of dynamic uncertain process. These problems are known to have a computationally demanding objective function, which could turn to be infeasible when large problems are considered. Therefore, fast approximations to the objective function are required. This paper employs bundle of intelligent systems algorithms tied together in a multi-agent system. In order to demonstrate the system, a metal reheat furnace scheduling problem is adopted for highly demanded optimization problem. The proposed multi-agent approach has been evaluated for different settings of the reheat furnace scheduling problem. Particle Swarm Optimization, Genetic Algorithm with different classic and advanced versions: GA with chromosome differentiation, Age GA, and Sexual GA, and finally a Mimetic GA, which is based on combining the GA as a global optimizer and the PSO as a local optimizer. Experimentation has been performed to validate the multi-agent system on the reheat furnace scheduling problem

Interactive product catalogue with user preference tracking

In the context of m-commerce, small screen size poses serious difficulty for users to browse effectively through a product catalogue, given the limited number of products that may be presented on-screen. Despite the availability of search engines, filters and recommender systems to aid users, these techniques focus on a narrow segment of product offering. The users are thus denied the opportunity to do a more expansive exploration of the products available. This paper describes a novel approach to overcome the constraints of small screen size. Through integration of a product catalogue with a recommender system, an adaptive system has been created that guides users through the process of product browsing. An original technique has been developed to cluster similar positive examples together to identify areas of interest of a user. The performance of this technique has been evaluated and the results proved to be promising

Bidirectional optimization of the melting spinning process

This is the author's accepted manuscript (under the provisional title "Bi-directional optimization of the melting spinning process with an immune-enhanced neural network"). The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright 2014 @ IEEE.A bidirectional optimizing approach for the melting spinning process based on an immune-enhanced neural network is proposed. The proposed bidirectional model can not only reveal the internal nonlinear relationship between the process configuration and the quality indices of the fibers as final product, but also provide a tool for engineers to develop new fiber products with expected quality specifications. A neural network is taken as the basis for the bidirectional model, and an immune component is introduced to enlarge the searching scope of the solution field so that the neural network has a larger possibility to find the appropriate and reasonable solution, and the error of prediction can therefore be eliminated. The proposed intelligent model can also help to determine what kind of process configuration should be made in order to produce satisfactory fiber products. To make the proposed model practical to the manufacturing, a software platform is developed. Simulation results show that the proposed model can eliminate the approximation error raised by the neural network-based optimizing model, which is due to the extension of focusing scope by the artificial immune mechanism. Meanwhile, the proposed model with the corresponding software can conduct optimization in two directions, namely, the process optimization and category development, and the corresponding results outperform those with an ordinary neural network-based intelligent model. It is also proved that the proposed model has the potential to act as a valuable tool from which the engineers and decision makers of the spinning process could benefit.National Nature Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Education of China, the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

Kajian terhadap ketahanan hentaman ke atas konkrit berbusa yang diperkuat dengan serat kelapa sawit

Konkrit berbusa merupakan sejenis konkrit ringan yang mempunyai kebolehkerjaan yang baik dan tidak memerlukan pengetaran untuk proses pemadatan. Umum mengenali konkrit berbusa sebagai bahan binaan yang mempunyai sifat kekuatan yang rendah dan lemah terutama apabila bahan binaan ini dikenakan tenaga hentaman yang tinggi. Namun begitu, konkrit berbusa merupakan bahan yang berpotensi untuk dijadikan sebagai bahan binaan yang berkonsepkan futuristik. Binaan futuristik adalah binaan yang bercirikan ringan, ekonomi, mudah dari segi kerja pembinaan dan yang paling penting adalah mesra alam. Dalam kajian ini, konkrit berbusa ditambah serat buangan pokok kelapa sawit untuk untuk meningkatkan sifat kekuatan atau rapuh. Serat kelapa sawit juga berfungsi mempertingkatkan ketahanan hentaman terutamanya aspek nilai penyerapan tenaga hentaman dan nilai tenaga hentaman. Kandungan peratusan serat kelapa sawit yang digunakan adalah 10%, 20% dan 30% dengan dua ketumpatan konkrit berbusa iaitu 1000kg/m3 dan 1400kg/m3 . Untuk menentukan nilai penyerapan tenaga hentaman dan nilai tenaga hentaman, ujikaji Indentasi dan ujikaji hentaman dilakukan ke atas sampel�sampel yang telah diawet selama 28 hari. Luas bawah graf tegasan-terikan yang diperolehi daripada ujikaji Indentasi merupakan nilai penyerapan tenaga hentaman bagi sampel konkrit berbusa. Untuk ujikaji hentaman, keputusan ujikaji dinilai berdasarkan nilai tenaga hentaman untuk meretakkan sampel yang diperolehi daripada mesin ujikaji dynatup. Secara keseluruhannya, hasil dapatan utama bagi kedua-dua ujikaji menunjukkan sampel yang mengandungi peratusan serat kelapa sawit sebanyak 20% mempunyai nilai penyerapan tenaga hentaman dan nilai tenaga hentaman yang tinggi. Serapan tenaga maksimum adalah sebanyak 4.517MJ/m3 untuk ketumpatan 1400kg/m3 . Ini menunjukkan ketumpatan 1400kg/m3 berupaya menyerap tenaga lebih baik berbanding ketumpatan 1000kg/m3 . Manakala untuk nilai tenaga hentaman maksimum adalah sebanyak 27.229J untuk ketumpatan 1400kg/m3 . Hasil dapatan tersebut menunjukkan ketumpatan 1400kg/m3 dengan peratusan serat sebanyak 20% berupaya mengalas tenaga hentaman yang lebih banyak sebelum sampel retak. Kesimpulannya, peningkatan ketumpatan konkrit berbusa dan pertambahan serat buangan kelapa sawit ke dalam konkrit berbusa dapat meningkatkan ciri ketahanan hentaman konkrit berbusa khususnya aspek nilai penyerapan tenaga hentaman dan nilai tenaga hentaman