Intelligent systems in manufacturing: current developments and future prospects

Global competition and rapidly changing customer requirements are demanding increasing changes in manufacturing environments. Enterprises are required to constantly redesign their products and continuously reconfigure their manufacturing systems. Traditional approaches to manufacturing systems do not fully satisfy this new situation. Many authors have proposed that artificial intelligence will bring the flexibility and efficiency needed by manufacturing systems. This paper is a review of artificial intelligence techniques used in manufacturing systems. The paper first defines the components of a simplified intelligent manufacturing systems (IMS), the different Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to be considered and then shows how these AI techniques are used for the components of IMS

Planning and Scheduling Optimization

Although planning and scheduling optimization have been explored in the literature for many years now, it still remains a hot topic in the current scientific research. The changing market trends, globalization, technical and technological progress, and sustainability considerations make it necessary to deal with new optimization challenges in modern manufacturing, engineering, and healthcare systems. This book provides an overview of the recent advances in different areas connected with operations research models and other applications of intelligent computing techniques used for planning and scheduling optimization. The wide range of theoretical and practical research findings reported in this book confirms that the planning and scheduling problem is a complex issue that is present in different industrial sectors and organizations and opens promising and dynamic perspectives of research and development

Meta-Heuristics for Dynamic Lot Sizing: a review and comparison of solution approaches

Proofs from complexity theory as well as computational experiments indicate that most lot sizing problems are hard to solve. Because these problems are so difficult, various solution techniques have been proposed to solve them. In the past decade, meta-heuristics such as tabu search, genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, have become popular and efficient tools for solving hard combinational optimization problems. We review the various meta-heuristics that have been specifically developed to solve lot sizing problems, discussing their main components such as representation, evaluation neighborhood definition and genetic operators. Further, we briefly review other solution approaches, such as dynamic programming, cutting planes, Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition, Lagrange relaxation and dedicated heuristics. This allows us to compare these techniques. Understanding their respective advantages and disadvantages gives insight into how we can integrate elements from several solution approaches into more powerful hybrid algorithms. Finally, we discuss general guidelines for computational experiments and illustrate these with several examples

Collaborative scheduling of machining-assembly in complex multiple parallel production lines environment considering kitting constraints

In multi-stage machining-assembly production, collaborative scheduling for multiple production lines can effectively improve the execution efficiency of production planning and increase the effective output of the production system. In this paper, a production scheduling mathematical model was constructed for the collaborative scheduling problem of machining-assembly multi-production lines with kitting constraints, with the optimization objectives of minimizing assembly completion time and tardiness time. For the scheduling model, the product assembly process is constrained by the machining sequence of the jobs on the machining lines. Only by collaborating on the production scheduling schemes of the machine line and the assembly line as a whole can the output efficiency of the product on the assembly line be improved. An improved hybrid multi-objective optimization algorithm named SMOEA/D is designed to solve this scheduling model. The algorithm uses adaptive parents’ selection and mutation rate strategies and integrates the Tabu search strategy for the search process in the solution space when the solution of the sub-problem has not been improved after specified search generations, to improve the local search ability and search accuracy of MOEA/D algorithm. To verify the performance of the SMOEA/D algorithm in solving machining-assembly collaborative scheduling problems in production systems with different resource configurations and scales, two sets of numerical experiments were designed, corresponding to situations where the number of operations on each production line is equal or unequal. The running results of the proposed algorithm were compared with three other well-known multi-objective algorithms. The comparison results indicate that the SMOEA/D algorithm is effective and superior for solving such problems

Models and Algorithms for the Optimisation of Replenishment, Production and Distribution Plans in Industrial Enterprises

Tesis por compendio[ES] La optimización en las empresas manufactureras es especialmente importante, debido a las grandes inversiones que realizan, ya que a veces estas inversiones no obtienen el rendimiento esperado porque los márgenes de beneficio de los productos son muy ajustados. Por ello, las empresas tratan de maximizar el uso de los recursos productivos y financieros minimizando el tiempo perdido y, al mismo tiempo, mejorando los flujos de los procesos y satisfaciendo las necesidades del mercado. El proceso de planificación es una actividad crítica para las empresas. Esta tarea implica grandes retos debido a los cambios del mercado, las alteraciones en los procesos de producción dentro de la empresa y en la cadena de suministro, y los cambios en la legislación, entre otros. La planificación del aprovisionamiento, la producción y la distribución desempeña un papel fundamental en el rendimiento de las empresas manufactureras, ya que una planificación ineficaz de los proveedores, los procesos de producción y los sistemas de distribución contribuye a aumentar los costes de los productos, a alargar los plazos de entrega y a reducir los beneficios. La planificación eficaz es un proceso complejo que abarca una amplia gama de actividades para garantizar que los equipos, los materiales y los recursos humanos estén disponibles en el momento y el lugar adecuados. Motivados por la complejidad de la planificación en las empresas manufactureras, esta tesis estudia y desarrolla herramientas cuantitativas para ayudar a los planificadores en los procesos de la planificación del aprovisionamiento, producción y distribución. Desde esta perspectiva, se proponen modelos realistas y métodos eficientes para apoyar la toma de decisiones en las empresas industriales, principalmente en las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES). Las aportaciones de esta tesis suponen un avance científico basado en una exhaustiva revisión bibliográfica sobre la planificación del aprovisionamiento, la producción y la distribución que ayuda a comprender los principales modelos y algoritmos utilizados para resolver estos planes, y pone en relieve las tendencias y las futuras direcciones de investigación. También proporciona un marco holístico para caracterizar los modelos y algoritmos centrándose en la planificación de la producción, la programación y la secuenciación. Esta tesis también propone una herramienta de apoyo a la decisión para seleccionar un algoritmo o método de solución para resolver problemas concretos de la planificación del aprovisionamiento, producción y distribución en función de su complejidad, lo que permite a los planificadores no duplicar esfuerzos de modelización o programación de técnicas de solución. Por último, se desarrollan nuevos modelos matemáticos y enfoques de solución de última generación, como los algoritmos matheurísticos, que combinan la programación matemática y las técnicas metaheurísticas. Los nuevos modelos y algoritmos comprenden mejoras en términos de rendimiento computacional, e incluyen características realistas de los problemas del mundo real a los que se enfrentan las empresas de fabricación. Los modelos matemáticos han sido validados con un caso de una importante empresa del sector de la automoción en España, lo que ha permitido evaluar la relevancia práctica de estos novedosos modelos utilizando instancias de gran tamaño, similares a las existentes en la empresa objeto de estudio. Además, los algoritmos matheurísticos han sido probados utilizando herramientas libres y de código abierto. Esto también contribuye a la práctica de la investigación operativa, y proporciona una visión de cómo desplegar estos métodos de solución y el tiempo de cálculo y rendimiento de la brecha que se puede obtener mediante el uso de software libre o de código abierto.[CA] L'optimització a les empreses manufactureres és especialment important, a causa de les grans inversions que realitzen, ja que de vegades aquestes inversions no obtenen el rendiment esperat perquè els marges de benefici dels productes són molt ajustats. Per això, les empreses intenten maximitzar l'ús dels recursos productius i financers minimitzant el temps perdut i, alhora, millorant els fluxos dels processos i satisfent les necessitats del mercat. El procés de planificació és una activitat crítica per a les empreses. Aquesta tasca implica grans reptes a causa dels canvis del mercat, les alteracions en els processos de producció dins de l'empresa i la cadena de subministrament, i els canvis en la legislació, entre altres. La planificació de l'aprovisionament, la producció i la distribució té un paper fonamental en el rendiment de les empreses manufactureres, ja que una planificació ineficaç dels proveïdors, els processos de producció i els sistemes de distribució contribueix a augmentar els costos dels productes, allargar els terminis de lliurament i reduir els beneficis. La planificació eficaç és un procés complex que abasta una àmplia gamma d'activitats per garantir que els equips, els materials i els recursos humans estiguen disponibles al moment i al lloc adequats. Motivats per la complexitat de la planificació a les empreses manufactureres, aquesta tesi estudia i desenvolupa eines quantitatives per ajudar als planificadors en els processos de la planificació de l'aprovisionament, producció i distribució. Des d'aquesta perspectiva, es proposen models realistes i mètodes eficients per donar suport a la presa de decisions a les empreses industrials, principalment a les petites i mitjanes empreses (PIMES). Les aportacions d'aquesta tesi suposen un avenç científic basat en una exhaustiva revisió bibliogràfica sobre la planificació de l'aprovisionament, la producció i la distribució que ajuda a comprendre els principals models i algorismes utilitzats per resoldre aquests plans, i posa de relleu les tendències i les futures direccions de recerca. També proporciona un marc holístic per caracteritzar els models i algorismes centrant-se en la planificació de la producció, la programació i la seqüenciació. Aquesta tesi també proposa una eina de suport a la decisió per seleccionar un algorisme o mètode de solució per resoldre problemes concrets de la planificació de l'aprovisionament, producció i distribució en funció de la seua complexitat, cosa que permet als planificadors no duplicar esforços de modelització o programació de tècniques de solució. Finalment, es desenvolupen nous models matemàtics i enfocaments de solució d'última generació, com ara els algoritmes matheurístics, que combinen la programació matemàtica i les tècniques metaheurístiques. Els nous models i algoritmes comprenen millores en termes de rendiment computacional, i inclouen característiques realistes dels problemes del món real a què s'enfronten les empreses de fabricació. Els models matemàtics han estat validats amb un cas d'una important empresa del sector de l'automoció a Espanya, cosa que ha permés avaluar la rellevància pràctica d'aquests nous models utilitzant instàncies grans, similars a les existents a l'empresa objecte d'estudi. A més, els algorismes matheurístics han estat provats utilitzant eines lliures i de codi obert. Això també contribueix a la pràctica de la investigació operativa, i proporciona una visió de com desplegar aquests mètodes de solució i el temps de càlcul i rendiment de la bretxa que es pot obtindre mitjançant l'ús de programari lliure o de codi obert.[EN] Optimisation in manufacturing companies is especially important, due to the large investments they make, as sometimes these investments do not obtain the expected return because the profit margins of products are very tight. Therefore, companies seek to maximise the use of productive and financial resources by minimising lost time and, at the same time, improving process flows while meeting market needs. The planning process is a critical activity for companies. This task involves great challenges due to market changes, alterations in production processes within the company and in the supply chain, and changes in legislation, among others. Planning of replenishment, production and distribution plays a critical role in the performance of manufacturing companies because ineffective planning of suppliers, production processes and distribution systems contributes to higher product costs, longer lead times and less profits. Effective planning is a complex process that encompasses a wide range of activities to ensure that equipment, materials and human resources are available in the right time and the right place. Motivated by the complexity of planning in manufacturing companies, this thesis studies and develops quantitative tools to help planners in the replenishment, production and delivery planning processes. From this perspective, realistic models and efficient methods are proposed to support decision making in industrial companies, mainly in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The contributions of this thesis represent a scientific breakthrough based on a comprehensive literature review about replenishment, production and distribution planning that helps to understand the main models and algorithms used to solve these plans, and highlights trends and future research directions. It also provides a holistic framework to characterise models and algorithms by focusing on production planning, scheduling and sequencing. This thesis also proposes a decision support tool for selecting an algorithm or solution method to solve concrete replenishment, production and distribution planning problems according to their complexity, which allows planners to not duplicate efforts modelling or programming solution techniques. Finally, new state-of-the-art mathematical models and solution approaches are developed, such as matheuristic algorithms, which combine mathematical programming and metaheuristic techniques. The new models and algorithms comprise improvements in computational performance terms, and include realistic features of real-world problems faced by manufacturing companies. The mathematical models have been validated with a case of an important company in the automotive sector in Spain, which allowed to evaluate the practical relevance of these novel models using large instances, similarly to those existing in the company under study. In addition, the matheuristic algorithms have been tested using free and open-source tools. This also helps to contribute to the practice of operations research, and provides insight into how to deploy these solution methods and the computational time and gap performance that can be obtained by using free or open-source software.This work would not have been possible without the following funding sources: Conselleria de Educación, Investigación, Cultura y Deporte, Generalitat Valenciana for hiring predoctoral research staff with Grant (ACIF/2018/170) and the European Social Fund with the Grant Operational Programme of FSE 2014-2020. Conselleria de Educación, Investigación, Cultura y Deporte, Generalitat Valenciana for predoctoral contract students to stay in research centers outside the research centers outside the Valencian Community (BEFPI/2021/040) and the European Social Fund.Guzmán Ortiz, BE. (2022). Models and Algorithms for the Optimisation of Replenishment, Production and Distribution Plans in Industrial Enterprises [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/187461Compendi

Optimization of storage and picking systems in warehouses

La croissance du commerce électronique exige une hausse des performances des systèmes d'entreposage, qui sont maintenant repensés pour faire face à un volume massif de demandes à être satisfait le plus rapidement possible. Le système manuel et le système à robots mobile (SRM) sont parmi les plus utilisés pour ces activités. Le premier est un système centré sur l'humain pour réaliser des opérations complexes que les robots actuels ne peuvent pas effectuer. Cependant, les nouvelles générations de robots autonomes mènent à un remplacement progressif par le dernier pour augmenter la productivité. Quel que soit le système utilisé, plusieurs problèmes interdépendants doivent être résolus pour avoir des processus de stockage et de prélèvement efficaces. Les problèmes de stockage concernent les décisions d'où stocker les produits dans l'entrepôt. Les problèmes de prélèvement incluent le regroupement des commandes à exécuter ensemble et les itinéraires que les cueilleurs et les robots doivent suivre pour récupérer les produits demandés. Dans le système manuel, ces problèmes sont traditionnellement résolus à l'aide de politiques simples que les préparateurs peuvent facilement suivre. Malgré l'utilisation de robots, la même stratégie de solution est répliquée aux problèmes équivalents trouvés dans le SRM. Dans cette recherche, nous étudions les problèmes de stockage et de prélèvement rencontrés lors de la conception du système manuel et du SRM. Nous développons des outils d'optimisation pour aider à la prise de décision pour mettre en place leurs processus, en améliorant les mesures de performance typiques de ces systèmes. Certains problèmes traditionnels sont résolus avec des techniques améliorées, tandis que d'autres sont intégrés pour être résolus ensemble au lieu d'optimiser chaque sous-système de manière indépendante. Nous considérons d'abord un système manuel avec un ensemble connu de commandes et intégrons les décisions de stockage et de routage. Le problème intégré et certaines variantes tenant compte des politiques de routage communes sont modélisés mathématiquement. Une métaheuristique générale de recherche de voisinage variable est présentée pour traiter des instances de taille réelle. Des expériences attestent de l'efficience de la métaheuristique proposée par rapport aux modèles exacts et aux politiques de stockage communes. Lorsque les demandes futures sont incertaines, il est courant d'utiliser une stratégie de zonage qui divise la zone de stockage en zones et attribue les produits les plus demandés aux meilleures zones. Les tailles des zones sont à déterminer. Généralement, des dimensions arbitraires sont choisies, mais elles ignorent les caractéristiques de l'entrepôt et des demandes. Nous abordons le problème de dimensionnement des zones pour déterminer quels facteurs sont pertinents pour choisir de meilleures tailles de zone. Les données générées à partir de simulations exhaustives sont utilisées pour trainer quatre modèles de régression d'apprentissage automatique - moindres carrés ordinaire, arbre de régression, forêt aléatoire et perceptron multicouche - afin de prédire les dimensions optimales des zones en fonction de l'ensemble de facteurs pertinents identifiés. Nous montrons que tous les modèles entraînés suggèrent des dimensions sur mesure des zones qui performent meilleur que les dimensions arbitraires couramment utilisées. Une autre approche pour résoudre les problèmes de stockage pour le système manuel et pour le SRM considère les corrélations entre les produits. L'idée est que les produits régulièrement demandés ensemble doivent être stockés près pour réduire les coûts de routage. Cette politique de stockage peut être modélisée comme une variante du problème d'affectation quadratique (PAQ). Le PAQ est un problème combinatoire traditionnel et l'un des plus difficiles à résoudre. Nous examinons les variantes les plus connues du PAQ et développons une puissante métaheuristique itérative de recherche tabou mémétique en parallèle capable de les résoudre. La métaheuristique proposée s'avère être parmi les plus performantes pour le PAQ et surpasse considérablement l'état de l'art pour ses variantes. Les SRM permettent de repositionner facilement les pods d'inventaire pendant les opérations, ce qui peut conduire à un processus de prélèvement plus économe en énergie. Nous intégrons les décisions de repositionnement des pods à l'attribution des commandes et à la sélection des pods à l'aide d'une stratégie de prélèvement par vague. Les pods sont réorganisés en tenant compte du moment et de l'endroit où ils devraient être demandés au futur. Nous résolvons ce problème en utilisant la programmation stochastique en tenant compte de l'incertitude sur les demandes futures et suggérons une matheuristique de recherche locale pour résoudre des instances de taille réelle. Nous montrons que notre schéma d'approximation moyenne de l'échantillon est efficace pour simuler les demandes futures puisque nos méthodes améliorent les solutions trouvées lorsque les vagues sont planifiées sans tenir compte de l'avenir. Cette thèse est structurée comme suit. Après un chapitre d'introduction, nous présentons une revue de la littérature sur le système manuel et le SRM, et les décisions communes prises pour mettre en place leurs processus de stockage et de prélèvement. Les quatre chapitres suivants détaillent les études pour le problème de stockage et de routage intégré, le problème de dimensionnement des zones, le PAQ et le problème de repositionnement de pod. Nos conclusions sont résumées dans le dernier chapitre.The rising of e-commerce is demanding an increase in the performance of warehousing systems, which are being redesigned to deal with a mass volume of demands to be fulfilled as fast as possible. The manual system and the robotic mobile fulfillment system (RMFS) are among the most commonly used for these activities. The former is a human-centered system that handles complex operations that current robots cannot perform. However, newer generations of autonomous robots are leading to a gradual replacement by the latter to increase productivity. Regardless of the system used, several interdependent problems have to be solved to have efficient storage and picking processes. Storage problems concern decisions on where to store products within the warehouse. Picking problems include the batching of orders to be fulfilled together and the routes the pickers and robots should follow to retrieve the products demanded. In the manual system, these problems are traditionally solved using simple policies that pickers can easily follow. Despite using robots, the same solution strategy is being replicated to the equivalent problems found in the RMFS. In this research, we investigate storage and picking problems faced when designing manual and RMFS warehouses. We develop optimization tools to help in the decision-making process to set up their processes and improve typical performance measures considered in these systems. Some classic problems are solved with improved techniques, while others are integrated to be solved together instead of optimizing each subsystem sequentially. We first consider a manual system with a known set of orders and integrate storage and routing decisions. The integrated problem and some variants considering common routing policies are modeled mathematically. A general variable neighborhood search metaheuristic is presented to deal with real-size instances. Computational experiments attest to the effectiveness of the metaheuristic proposed compared to the exact models and common storage policies. When future demands are uncertain, it is common to use a zoning strategy to divide the storage area into zones and assign the most-demanded products to the best zones. Zone sizes are to be determined. Commonly, arbitrary sizes are chosen, which ignore the characteristics of the warehouse and the demands. We approach the zone sizing problem to determine which factors are relevant to choosing better zone sizes. Data generated from exhaustive simulations are used to train four machine learning regression models - ordinary least squares, regression tree, random forest, and multilayer perceptron - to predict the optimal zone sizes given the set of relevant factors identified. We show that all trained models suggest tailor-made zone sizes with better picking performance than the arbitrary ones commonly used. Another approach to solving storage problems, both in the manual and RMFS, considers the correlations between products. The idea is that products constantly demanded together should be stored closer to reduce routing costs. This storage policy can be modeled as a quadratic assignment problem (QAP) variant. The QAP is a traditional combinatorial problem and one of the hardest to solve. We survey the most traditional QAP variants and develop a powerful parallel memetic iterated tabu search metaheuristic capable of solving them. The proposed metaheuristic is shown to be among the best performing ones for the QAP and significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art for its variants. The RMFS allows easy repositioning of inventory pods during operations that can lead to a more energy-efficient picking process. We integrate pod repositioning decisions with order assignment and pod selection using a wave picking strategy such that pods are parked after being requested considering when and where they are expected to be requested next. We solve this integrated problem using stochastic programming considering the uncertainty about future demands and suggest a local search matheuristic to solve real-size instances. We show that our sample average approximation scheme is effective to simulate future demands since our methods improve solutions found when waves are planned without considering the future demands. This thesis is structured as follows. After an introductory chapter, we present a literature review on the manual and RMFS, and common decisions made to set up their storage and picking processes. The next four chapters detail the studies for the integrated storage and routing problem, the zone sizing problem, the QAP, and the pod repositioning problem. Our findings are summarized in the last chapter

Scientific Workflow Scheduling for Cloud Computing Environments

The scheduling of workflow applications consists of assigning their tasks to computer resources to fulfill a final goal such as minimizing total workflow execution time. For this reason, workflow scheduling plays a crucial role in efficiently running experiments. Workflows often have many discrete tasks and the number of different task distributions possible and consequent time required to evaluate each configuration quickly becomes prohibitively large. A proper solution to the scheduling problem requires the analysis of tasks and resources, production of an accurate environment model and, most importantly, the adaptation of optimization techniques. This study is a major step toward solving the scheduling problem by not only addressing these issues but also optimizing the runtime and reducing monetary cost, two of the most important variables. This study proposes three scheduling algorithms capable of answering key issues to solve the scheduling problem. Firstly, it unveils BaRRS, a scheduling solution that exploits parallelism and optimizes runtime and monetary cost. Secondly, it proposes GA-ETI, a scheduler capable of returning the number of resources that a given workflow requires for execution. Finally, it describes PSO-DS, a scheduler based on particle swarm optimization to efficiently schedule large workflows. To test the algorithms, five well-known benchmarks are selected that represent different scientific applications. The experiments found the novel algorithms solutions substantially improve efficiency, reducing makespan by 11% to 78%. The proposed frameworks open a path for building a complete system that encompasses the capabilities of a workflow manager, scheduler, and a cloud resource broker in order to offer scientists a single tool to run computationally intensive applications

Evolutionary Computation 2020

Intelligent optimization is based on the mechanism of computational intelligence to refine a suitable feature model, design an effective optimization algorithm, and then to obtain an optimal or satisfactory solution to a complex problem. Intelligent algorithms are key tools to ensure global optimization quality, fast optimization efficiency and robust optimization performance. Intelligent optimization algorithms have been studied by many researchers, leading to improvements in the performance of algorithms such as the evolutionary algorithm, whale optimization algorithm, differential evolution algorithm, and particle swarm optimization. Studies in this arena have also resulted in breakthroughs in solving complex problems including the green shop scheduling problem, the severe nonlinear problem in one-dimensional geodesic electromagnetic inversion, error and bug finding problem in software, the 0-1 backpack problem, traveler problem, and logistics distribution center siting problem. The editors are confident that this book can open a new avenue for further improvement and discoveries in the area of intelligent algorithms. The book is a valuable resource for researchers interested in understanding the principles and design of intelligent algorithms