Polypropylene Production Optimization in Fluidized Bed Catalytic Reactor (FBCR): Statistical Modeling and Pilot Scale Experimental Validation

YesPolypropylene is one type of plastic that is widely used in our everyday life. This study focuses on the identification and justification of the optimum process parameters for polypropylene production in a novel pilot plant based fluidized bed reactor. This first-of-its-kind statistical modeling with experimental validation for the process parameters of polypropylene production was conducted by applying ANNOVA (Analysis of variance) method to Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Three important process variables i.e., reaction temperature, system pressure and hydrogen percentage were considered as the important input factors for the polypropylene production in the analysis performed. In order to examine the effect of process parameters and their interactions, the ANOVA method was utilized among a range of other statistical diagnostic tools such as the correlation between actual and predicted values, the residuals and predicted response, outlier t plot, 3D response surface and contour analysis plots. The statistical analysis showed that the proposed quadratic model had a good fit with the experimental results. At optimum conditions with temperature of 75 °C, system pressure of 25 bar and hydrogen percentage of 2%, the highest polypropylene production obtained is 5.82% per pass. Hence it is concluded that the developed experimental design and proposed model can be successfully employed with over a 95% confidence level for optimum polypropylene production in a fluidized bed catalytic reactor (FBCR)

Heuristics for scheduling a two-stage hybrid flow shop with parallel batching machines: application at a hospital sterilisation plant

The model of a two-stage hybrid (or flexible) flow shop, with sequence-independent uniform setup times, parallel batching machines and parallel batches has been analysed with the purpose of reducing the number of tardy jobs and the makespan in a sterilisation plant. Jobs are processed in parallel batches by multiple identical parallel machines. Manual operations preceding each of the two stages have been dealt with as machine setup with standardised times and are sequence-independent. A mixed-integer model is proposed. Two heuristics have been tested on real benchmark data from an existing sterilisation plant: constrained size of parallel batches and fixed time slots. Computation experiments performed on combinations of machines and operator numbers suggest balancing the two stages by assigning operators proportionally to the setup time requirements

Scheduling Hybrid Flow Lines of Aerospace Composite Manufacturing Systems

Composite manufacturing is a vital part of aerospace manufacturing systems. Applying effective scheduling within these systems can cut the costs in aerospace companies significantly. These systems can be characterized as two-stage Hybrid Flow Shops (HFS) with identical, non-identical and unrelated parallel discrete-processing machines in the first stage and non-identical parallel batch-processing machines in the second stage. The first stage is normally the lay-up process in which the carbon fiber sheets are stacked on the molds (tools). Then, the parts are batched based on the compatibility of their cure recipe before going to the second stage into the autoclave for curing. Autoclaves require enormous capital investment and maximizing their utilization is of utmost importance. In this thesis, a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model is developed to maximize the utilization of the resources in the second stage of this HFS. CPLEX, with an underlying branch and bound algorithm, is used to solve the model. The results show the high level of flexibility and computational efficiency of the proposed model when applied to small and medium-size problems. However, due to the NP-hardness of the problem, the MILP model fails to solve large problems (i.e. problems with more than 120 jobs as input) in reasonable CPU times. To solve the larger instances of the problem, a novel heuristic method along with a Genetic Algorithm (GA) are developed. The heuristic algorithm is designed based on a careful observation of the behavior of the MILP model for different problem sets. Moreover, it is enhanced by adding a number of proper dispatching rules. As its output, this heuristic algorithm generates eight initial feasible solutions which are then used as the initial population of the proposed GA. The GA improves the initial solutions obtained from the aforementioned heuristic through its stochastic iterations until it reaches the satisfactory near-optimal solutions. A novel crossover operator is introduced in this GA which is unique to the HFS of aerospace composite manufacturing systems. The proposed GA is proven to be very efficient when applied to large-size problems with up to 300 jobs. The results show the high quality of the solutions achieved by the GA when compared to the optimal solutions which are obtained from the MILP model. A real case study undertaken at one of the leading companies in the Canadian aerospace industry is used for the purpose of data experiments and analysis

Mejora de tiempos de entrega en un flow shop híbrido flexible usando técnicas inteligentes. Aplicación en la industria de tejidos técnicos

Se busca aportar herramientas útiles para la programación de producción en la industria de tejidos técnicos. Se parte de las condiciones actuales de la programación de producción en este tipo de industria y de los antecedentes en la literatura científica sobre modelos aplicables a estos entornos. Se propone un modelo de solución por técnicas inteligentes a la problemática de la secuenciación y asignación de tareas en los entornos flow shop híbrido flexible considerando situaciones como: paralelismo entre máquinas no relacionadas, tiempos de montaje dependientes de la secuencia, entrada dinámica de trabajos, restricción de elegibilidad, maleabilidad y lotes de transferencia variables entre etapas. De allí se construye la propuesta de solución que involucra simultáneamente todas las condiciones de entorno real mencionadas y aplica un algoritmo genético modificado de acuerdo a las características del problema. Se concluye que el modelado considerando condiciones realistas es posible, que los algoritmos genéticos son una opción práctica para entornos reales y que las empresas pueden obtener mejoras en su capacidad de respuesta con este tipo de solucionesAbstract : It seeks to provide useful tools for production scheduling in the technical textiles industry. It begins in the current conditions of production scheduling in this type of industry and the background in scientific literature, applicable to these environments models. The mathematical model to solve the problem of sequencing and assigning jobs in Flexible hybrid flow shop environments is developed considering: unrelated parallel machines, sequence dependent setup time, dynamic entry of jobs, availability constrain, malleability and variable transfer batches between stages. The solution proposal is build including all actual environment features considered together and applying a modified genetic algorithm modeled according to the problem. It is concluded that the model of scheduling problems considering realistic conditions is possible, that genetic algorithms are a practical option for real environments, and that companies can achieve improvements in their responsiveness with this kind of solutionsDoctorad

Planning and scheduling in pharmaceutical supply chains

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH