2,597 research outputs found
Research Trends and Outlooks in Assembly Line Balancing Problems
This paper presents the findings from the survey of articles published on the assembly line balancing problems (ALBPs) during 2014-2018. Before proceeding a comprehensive literature review, the ineffectiveness of the previous ALBP classification structures is discussed and a new classification scheme based on the layout configurations of assembly lines is subsequently proposed. The research trend in each layout of assembly lines is highlighted through the graphical presentations. The challenges in the ALBPs are also pinpointed as a technical guideline for future research works
Algorithms and Methods for Designing and Scheduling Smart Manufacturing Systems
This book, as a Special Issue, is a collection of some of the latest advancements in designing and scheduling smart manufacturing systems. The smart manufacturing concept is undoubtedly considered a paradigm shift in manufacturing technology. This conception is part of the Industry 4.0 strategy, or equivalent national policies, and brings new challenges and opportunities for the companies that are facing tough global competition. Industry 4.0 should not only be perceived as one of many possible strategies for manufacturing companies, but also as an important practice within organizations. The main focus of Industry 4.0 implementation is to combine production, information technology, and the internet. The presented Special Issue consists of ten research papers presenting the latest works in the field. The papers include various topics, which can be divided into three categories—(i) designing and scheduling manufacturing systems (seven articles), (ii) machining process optimization (two articles), (iii) digital insurance platforms (one article). Most of the mentioned research problems are solved in these articles by using genetic algorithms, the harmony search algorithm, the hybrid bat algorithm, the combined whale optimization algorithm, and other optimization and decision-making methods. The above-mentioned groups of articles are briefly described in this order in this book
Lean manual assembly 4.0: A systematic review
In a demand context of mass customization, shifting towards the mass personalization of products, assembly operations face the trade-off between highly productive automated systems and flexible manual operators. Novel digital technologies—conceptualized as Industry 4.0—suggest the possibility of simultaneously achieving superior productivity and flexibility. This article aims to address how Industry 4.0 technologies could improve the productivity, flexibility and quality of assembly operations. A systematic literature review was carried out, including 234 peer-reviewed articles from 2010–2020. As a result, the analysis was structured addressing four sets of research questions regarding (1) assembly for mass customization; (2) Industry 4.0 and performance evaluation; (3) Lean production as a starting point for smart factories, and (4) the implications of Industry 4.0 for people in assembly operations. It was found that mass customization brings great complexity that needs to be addressed at different levels from a holistic point of view; that Industry 4.0 offers powerful tools to achieve superior productivity and flexibility in assembly; that Lean is a great starting point for implementing such changes; and that people need to be considered central to Assembly 4.0. Developing methodologies for implementing Industry 4.0 to achieve specific business goals remains an open research topic
Best matching processes in distributed systems
The growing complexity and dynamic behavior of modern manufacturing and service industries along with competitive and globalized markets have gradually transformed traditional centralized systems into distributed networks of e- (electronic) Systems. Emerging examples include e-Factories, virtual enterprises, smart farms, automated warehouses, and intelligent transportation systems. These (and similar) distributed systems, regardless of context and application, have a property in common: They all involve certain types of interactions (collaborative, competitive, or both) among their distributed individuals—from clusters of passive sensors and machines to complex networks of computers, intelligent robots, humans, and enterprises. Having this common property, such systems may encounter common challenges in terms of suboptimal interactions and thus poor performance, caused by potential mismatch between individuals. For example, mismatched subassembly parts, vehicles—routes, suppliers—retailers, employees—departments, and products—automated guided vehicles—storage locations may lead to low-quality products, congested roads, unstable supply networks, conflicts, and low service level, respectively. This research refers to this problem as best matching, and investigates it as a major design principle of CCT, the Collaborative Control Theory.
The original contribution of this research is to elaborate on the fundamentals of best matching in distributed and collaborative systems, by providing general frameworks for (1) Systematic analysis, inclusive taxonomy, analogical and structural comparison between different matching processes; (2) Specification and formulation of problems, and development of algorithms and protocols for best matching; (3) Validation of the models, algorithms, and protocols through extensive numerical experiments and case studies. The first goal is addressed by investigating matching problems in distributed production, manufacturing, supply, and service systems based on a recently developed reference model, the PRISM Taxonomy of Best Matching. Following the second goal, the identified problems are then formulated as mixed-integer programs. Due to the computational complexity of matching problems, various optimization algorithms are developed for solving different problem instances, including modified genetic algorithms, tabu search, and neighbourhood search heuristics. The dynamic and collaborative/competitive behaviors of matching processes in distributed settings are also formulated and examined through various collaboration, best matching, and task administration protocols. In line with the third goal, four case studies are conducted on various manufacturing, supply, and service systems to highlight the impact of best matching on their operational performance, including service level, utilization, stability, and cost-effectiveness, and validate the computational merits of the developed solution methodologies
Energy Efficient Policies, Scheduling, and Design for Sustainable Manufacturing Systems
Climate mitigation, more stringent regulations, rising energy costs, and sustainable manufacturing are pushing researchers to focus on energy efficiency, energy flexibility, and implementation of renewable energy sources in manufacturing systems. This thesis aims to analyze the main works proposed regarding these hot topics, and to fill the gaps in the literature. First, a detailed literature review is proposed. Works regarding energy efficiency in different manufacturing levels, in the assembly line, energy saving policies, and the implementation of renewable energy sources are analyzed. Then, trying to fill the gaps in the literature, different topics are analyzed more in depth. In the single machine context, a mathematical model aiming to align the manufacturing power required to a renewable energy supply in order to obtain the maximum profit is developed. The model is applied to a single work center powered by the electric grid and by a photovoltaic system; afterwards, energy storage is also added to the power system. Analyzing the job shop context, switch off policies implementing workload approach and scheduling considering variable speed of the machines and power constraints are proposed. The direct and indirect workloads of the machines are considered to support the switch on/off decisions. A simulation model is developed to test the proposed policies compared to others presented in the literature. Regarding the job shop scheduling, a fixed and variable power constraints are considered, assuming the minimization of the makespan as the objective function. Studying the factory level, a mathematical model to design a flow line considering the possibility of using switch-off policies is developed. The design model for production lines includes a targeted imbalance among the workstations to allow for defined idle time. Finally, the main findings, results, and the future directions and challenges are presented
Mass Production Processes
It is always hard to set manufacturing systems to produce large quantities of standardized parts. Controlling these mass production lines needs deep knowledge, hard experience, and the required related tools as well. The use of modern methods and techniques to produce a large quantity of products within productive manufacturing processes provides improvements in manufacturing costs and product quality. In order to serve these purposes, this book aims to reflect on the advanced manufacturing systems of different alloys in production with related components and automation technologies. Additionally, it focuses on mass production processes designed according to Industry 4.0 considering different kinds of quality and improvement works in mass production systems for high productive and sustainable manufacturing. This book may be interesting to researchers, industrial employees, or any other partners who work for better quality manufacturing at any stage of the mass production processes
Optimalisasi Keseimbangan Lintasan Produksi Daur Ulang Plastik dengan Pendekatan Ranked Positional Weight
CV. Barsya Eka Plastindo merupakan perusahaan manufaktur yang bergerak dalam bidang daur ulang plastik. Pada proses produksinya memiliki dua area dalam pabrik, yaitu area produksi pertama dan area produksi kedua. Penelitian ini fokus ke salah satu area produksi karena memiliki proses yang sama. Permasalahan yang diakibatkan beban kerja tidak merata berdampak pada tingkat efisiensi dan produktivitas kerja yang kurang optimal. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengoptimalkan keseimbangan lintasan produksi berdasarkan beban kerja masing-masing operator. Metode pengambilan data dengan melakukan pengukuran secara langsung pada seluruh elemen kerja pada operator menggunakan stopwatch. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode Ranked Positional Weight (RPW) untuk menentukan alokasi beban kerja dari setiap operator. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan jumlah operator yang ideal untuk produksi daur ulang plastik sebanyak 4 operator dari jumlah semula sebanyak 6 operator. Pemerataan beban kerja dapat meningkatkan nilai efisiensi dari 53% menjadi 80,1 %. Peningkatan efisiensi lini ini disebabkan efektivitas elemen kerja/gerak masing-masing operator kerja. Peningkatan efesiensi lini, berdampak penurunan Balance Delay (BD) dari 47 %, menjadi 19,9 % dan Smoothing Index (SI) dari 78,58 detik menjadi 22,58 detik
Modelling and Solving Mixed-model Parallel Two-sided Assembly Line Problems
The global competitive environment and the growing demand for personalised products have increased the interest of companies in producing similar product models on the same assembly line. Companies are forced to make significant structural changes to rapidly respond to diversified demands and convert their existing single-model lines into mixed-model lines in order to avoid unnecessary new line construction cost for each new product model. Mixed-model assembly lines play a key role in increasing productivity without compromising quality for manufacturing enterprises.
The literature is extensive on assembling small-sized products in an intermixed sequence and assembling large-sized products in large volumes on single-model lines. However, a mixed-model parallel two-sided line system, where two or more similar products or similar models of a large-sized product are assembled on each of the parallel two-sided lines in an intermixed sequence, has not been of interest to academia so far. Moreover, taking model sequencing problem into consideration on a mixed-model parallel two-sided line system is a novel research topic in this domain. Within this context, the problem of simultaneous balancing and sequencing of mixed-model parallel two-sided lines is defined and described using illustrative examples for the first time in the literature. The mathematical model of the problem is also developed to exhibit the main characteristics of the problem and to explore the logic underlying the algorithms developed. The benefits of utilising multi-line stations between two adjacent lines are discussed and numerical examples are provided.
An agent-based ant colony optimisation algorithm (called ABACO) is developed to obtain a generic solution that conforms to any model sequence and it is enhanced step-by-step to increase the quality of the solutions obtained. Then, the algorithm is modified with the integration of a model sequencing procedure (where the modified version is called ABACO/S) to balance lines by tracking the product model changes on each workstation in a complex production environment where each of the parallel lines may a have different cycle time. Finally, a genetic algorithm based model sequencing mechanism is integrated to the algorithm to increase the robustness of the obtained solutions. Computational tests are performed using test cases to observe the performances of the developed algorithms.
Statistical tests are conducted through obtained results and test results establish that balancing mixed-model parallel two-sided lines together has a significant effect on the sought performance measures (a weighted summation of line length and the number of workstations) in comparison with balancing those lines separately. Another important finding of the research is that considering model sequencing problem along with the line balancing problem helps algorithm find better line balances with better performance measures. The results also indicate that the developed ABACO and ABACO/S algorithms outperform other test heuristics commonly used in the literature in solving various line balancing problems; and integrating a genetic algorithm based model sequencing mechanism into ABACO/S helps the algorithm find better solutions with less amount of computational effort
Intelligent conceptual mould layout design system (ICMLDS) : innovation report
Family Mould Cavity Runner Layout Design (FMCRLD) is the most demanding and
critical task in the early Conceptual Mould Layout Design (CMLD) phase.
Traditional experience-dependent manual FCMRLD workflow results in long design
lead time, non-optimum designs and costs of errors. However, no previous research,
existing commercial software packages or patented technologies can support
FMCRLD automation and optimisation. The nature of FMCRLD is non-repetitive
and generative. The complexity of FMCRLD optimisation involves solving a
complex two-level combinatorial layout design optimisation problem. This research
first developed the Intelligent Conceptual Mould Layout Design System (ICMLDS)
prototype based on the innovative nature-inspired evolutionary FCMRLD approach
for FMCRLD automation and optimisation using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Shape
Grammar (SG). The ICMLDS prototype has been proven to be a powerful
intelligent design tool as well as an interactive design-training tool that can encourage
and accelerate mould designers’ design alternative exploration, exploitation and
optimisation for better design in less time. This previously unavailable capability
enables the supporting company not only to innovate the existing traditional mould
making business but also to explore new business opportunities in the high-value
low-volume market (such as telecommunication, consumer electronic and medical
devices) of high precision injection moulding parts. On the other hand, the
innovation of this research also provides a deeper insight into the art of evolutionary
design and expands research opportunities in the evolutionary design approach into a
wide variety of new application areas including hot runner layout design, ejector
layout design, cooling layout design and architectural space layout design
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