Two extensions for the ALWABP: Parallel stations and collaborative approach

[EN] In this article, we introduce two new variants of the ALWABP that allow parallelization of and collaboration between heterogeneous workers. These new approaches suppose an additional level of complexity in the Line Design and Assignment process, but also higher flexibility; which may be particularly useful in practical situations where the aim is to progressively integrate slow or limited workers in conventional assembly lines. We present linear models and heuristic procedures for these two new problems. Computational results show the efficiency of the proposed approaches and the efficacy of the studied layouts in different situations.This research was supported by CAPES-Brazil and MEC-Spain (coordinated project CAPES-DGU 258-12/PHB-0012-PC) and by FAPESP-Brazil. We also thank the project ‘‘CORSARI MAGIC DPI2010-18243’’ of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación del Gobierno de España within the Program ‘‘Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental No Orientada’’.Araujo, FF.; Costa, AM.; Miralles Insa, CJ. (2012). Two extensions for the ALWABP: Parallel stations and collaborative approach. International Journal of Production Economics. 140(1):483-495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2012.06.032S483495140

Equilibrado de líneas de montaje de productos voluminosos

Preprin

A STUDY ON GENERAL ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING MODELING METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

The borders of the assembly line balancing problem, as classically drawn, are as clear as any other operations research topic in production planning, with well-defined sets of assumptions, parameters, and objective functions. In application, however, these borders are frequently transgressed. Many of these deviations are internal to the assembly line balancing problem itself, arising from any of a wide array of physical or technological features in modern assembly lines. Other issues are founded in the tight coupling of assembly line balancing with external production planning and management problems, as assembly lines are at the intersection of multiple related problems in job sequencing, part flow logistics, worker safety, and quality. The field of General Assembly Line Balancing is devoted to studying the class of adapted and extended solution techniques necessary in order to model these applied line balancing problems. In this dissertation a complex line balancing problem is presented based on the real production environment of our industrial partner, featuring several extensions for task-to-task relationships, station characteristics limiting assignment, and parallel worker zoning interactions. A constructive heuristic is developed along with two improvement heuristics, as well as an integer programming model for the same problem. An experiment is conducted testing each of these new solution methods upon a battery of testbed problems, measuring solution quality, runtime, and achievement of feasibility. Additionally, a new method for measuring a secondary horizontal line balancing objective is established, based on the options-mix paradigm rather than the customary model-mix paradigm

Application of lean scheduling and production control in non-repetitive manufacturing systems using intelligent agent decision support

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Lean Manufacturing (LM) is widely accepted as a world-class manufacturing paradigm, its currency and superiority are manifested in numerous recent success stories. Most lean tools including Just-in-Time (JIT) were designed for repetitive serial production systems. This resulted in a substantial stream of research which dismissed a priori the suitability of LM for non-repetitive non-serial job-shops. The extension of LM into non-repetitive production systems is opposed on the basis of the sheer complexity of applying JIT pull production control in non-repetitive systems fabricating a high variety of products. However, the application of LM in job-shops is not unexplored. Studies proposing the extension of leanness into non-repetitive production systems have promoted the modification of pull control mechanisms or reconfiguration of job-shops into cellular manufacturing systems. This thesis sought to address the shortcomings of the aforementioned approaches. The contribution of this thesis to knowledge in the field of production and operations management is threefold: Firstly, a Multi-Agent System (MAS) is designed to directly apply pull production control to a good approximation of a real-life job-shop. The scale and complexity of the developed MAS prove that the application of pull production control in non-repetitive manufacturing systems is challenging, perplex and laborious. Secondly, the thesis examines three pull production control mechanisms namely, Kanban, Base Stock and Constant Work-in-Process (CONWIP) which it enhances so as to prevent system deadlocks, an issue largely unaddressed in the relevant literature. Having successfully tested the transferability of pull production control to non-repetitive manufacturing, the third contribution of this thesis is that it uses experimental and empirical data to examine the impact of pull production control on job-shop performance. The thesis identifies issues resulting from the application of pull control in job-shops which have implications for industry practice and concludes by outlining further research that can be undertaken in this direction

PROBLÈMES COMBINATOIRES EN CONFIGURATION DES LIGNES DE FABRICATION (ANALYSE DE COMPLEXITÉ ET OPTIMISATION)

L'objectif de la thèse est de créer et développer de nouvelles méthodes de résolution efficaces des problèmes combinatoires en configuration des lignes de fabrication. Deux problèmes ont été particulièrement étudiés: le problème d'équilibrage et de choix d'équipement pour des lignes dédiées et le problème de minimisation des coûts de changements de séries pour des lignes multi-produits. Une solution du premier problème consiste en une affectation admissible des ressources à un nombre de stations à déterminer de sorte que le coût total soit minimal. Afin de résoudre ce problème, nous l'avons réduit au problème de partition d'ensemble et l'avons résolu par des heuristiques gloutonnes et une méthode exacte de génération de contraintes. Les expérimentations sur différentes instances ont montré que la nouvelle approche de résolution surclasse les approches antérieures de la littérature en termes de qualité de solution et de temps de calcul. Pour le second problème deux critères sont considérés lexicographiquement : la minimisation du nombre de stations et la minimisation du coût de changement de séries. Nous avons examiné successivement les cas d'exécution parallèle et séquentielle des opérations. Des solutions approchées ont été trouvées par des heuristiques gloutonnes. Ensuite, nous avons proposé deux modèles de programmation linéaire en nombres entiers (PLNE) afin de trouver le nombre de stations minimal et ensuite d'obtenir le coût de changement de séries minimal. Les résultats des expérimentations sur ces nouveaux problèmes se sont avérés prometteurs à la fois en termes de qualité de solution et de temps de calcul.The objective of this thesis is to create and develop new effective solution methods for production line configuration problems. Two problems were studied: the equipment selection and balancing problem for dedicated lines and the setup cost minimization problem for multi-product lines. A solution for the first problem consists in a feasible assignment of the resources to an unknown number of stations so that the total cost is minimized. In order to solve this problem, we reduced it to the set partitioning problem and solved it by greedy heuristics and an exact method of constraint generation. The computer experiments on different problem instances showed that the new solution approach outperforms the previous methods from the literature both in terms of solution quality and computational time. For the second problem two criteria were considered lexicographically: the minimization of the number of stations and the minimization of the total setup cost. We examined successively the cases with parallel and sequential execution of operations. Approximate solutions were found by greedy heuristics. Then, we proposed two integer programming models in order to obtain the minimal number of stations and then the minimal setup cost. The experimental results for this new problem proved to be promising both in terms of solution quality and computational time.ST ETIENNE-ENS des Mines (422182304) / SudocSudocFranceF

The dynamic, resource-constrained shortest path problem on an acyclic graph with application in column generation and literature review on sequence-dependent scheduling

This dissertation discusses two independent topics: a resource-constrained shortest-path problem (RCSP) and a literature review on scheduling problems involving sequence-dependent setup (SDS) times (costs). RCSP is often used as a subproblem in column generation because it can be used to solve many practical problems. This dissertation studies RCSP with multiple resource constraints on an acyclic graph, because many applications involve this configuration, especially in column genetation formulations. In particular, this research focuses on a dynamic RCSP since, as a subproblem in column generation, objective function coefficients are updated using new values of dual variables at each iteration. This dissertation proposes a pseudo-polynomial solution method for solving the dynamic RCSP by exploiting the special structure of an acyclic graph with the goal of effectively reoptimizing RCSP in the context of column generation. This method uses a one-time âÂÂpreliminaryâ phase to transform RCSP into an unconstrained shortest path problem (SPP) and then solves the resulting SPP after new values of dual variables are used to update objective function coefficients (i.e., reduced costs) at each iteration. Network reduction techniques are considered to remove some nodes and/or arcs permanently in the preliminary phase. Specified techniques are explored to reoptimize when only several coefficients change and for dealing with forbidden and prescribed arcs in the context of a column generation/branch-and-bound approach. As a benchmark method, a label-setting algorithm is also proposed. Computational tests are designed to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and procedures. This dissertation also gives a literature review related to the class of scheduling problems that involve SDS times (costs), an important consideration in many practical applications. It focuses on papers published within the last decade, addressing a variety of machine configurations - single machine, parallel machine, flow shop, and job shop - reviewing both optimizing and heuristic solution methods in each category. Since lot-sizing is so intimately related to scheduling, this dissertation reviews work that integrates these issues in relationship to each configuration. This dissertation provides a perspective of this line of research, gives conclusions, and discusses fertile research opportunities posed by this class of scheduling problems. since, as a subproblem in column generation, objective function coefficients are updated using new values of dual variables at each iteration. This dissertation proposes a pseudo-polynomial solution method for solving the dynamic RCSP by exploiting the special structure of an acyclic graph with the goal of effectively reoptimizing RCSP in the context of column generation. This method uses a one-tim

A Special Case of Transfer Lines Balancing by Graph Approach

International audienceA balancing problem for paced production lines with workstations in series and blocks of parallel operations at the workstations is considered. Operations of each workstation are partitioned into blocks. All operations of the same block are performed simultaneously by one spindle head. All blocks of the same workstation are also executed simultaneously. The relations of the necessity of executing some operations at the same workstation, the possibility of combining the blocks at the same workstation as well as precedence constraints are given. The operation time of the workstation is the maximal value among operation times of its blocks. The line cycle time is the maximal workstation time. The problem is to choose blocks from a given set and allocate them to workstations in such a way that (i) all the operations are assigned, (ii) the above constraints are satisfied, (iii) a given cycle time is not exceeded, and (iv) the line cost is minimal. A method for solving the problem is based on its transformation to a constrained shortest path problem