The relevance of outsourcing and leagile strategies in performance optimization of an integrated process planning and scheduling

Over the past few years growing global competition has forced the manufacturing industries to upgrade their old production strategies with the modern day approaches. As a result, recent interest has been developed towards finding an appropriate policy that could enable them to compete with others, and facilitate them to emerge as a market winner. Keeping in mind the abovementioned facts, in this paper the authors have proposed an integrated process planning and scheduling model inheriting the salient features of outsourcing, and leagile principles to compete in the existing market scenario. The paper also proposes a model based on leagile principles, where the integrated planning management has been practiced. In the present work a scheduling problem has been considered and overall minimization of makespan has been aimed. The paper shows the relevance of both the strategies in performance enhancement of the industries, in terms of their reduced makespan. The authors have also proposed a new hybrid Enhanced Swift Converging Simulated Annealing (ESCSA) algorithm, to solve the complex real-time scheduling problems. The proposed algorithm inherits the prominent features of the Genetic Algorithm (GA), Simulated Annealing (SA), and the Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC). The ESCSA algorithm reduces the makespan significantly in less computational time and number of iterations. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm has been shown by comparing the results with GA, SA, Tabu, and hybrid Tabu-SA optimization methods

An enhanced ant colony optimization approach for integrated process planning and scheduling

An enhanced ant colony optimization (eACO) meta-heuristics is proposed in this paper to accomplish the integrated process planning and scheduling (IPPS) in the jobshop environments. The IPPS problem is graphically formulated to implement the ACO algorithm. In accordance with the characteristics of the IPPS problem, the mechanism of eACO has been enhanced with several modifications, including quantification of convergence level, introduction of pheromone on nodes, new strategy of determining heuristic desirability and directive pheromone deposit strategy. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the approach, while makespan and CPU time are used as measurements. Encouraging results can be seen when comparing to other IPPS approaches based on evolutionary algorithms. © 2013 International Institute for Innovation, Industrial Engineering and Entrepreneurship - I4e2.published_or_final_versio

Optimizing the performance of an integrated process planning and scheduling problem: an AIS-FLC based approach

The present market scenario demands an integration of process planning and scheduling to stay competitive with others. In the present work, an integrated process planning and scheduling model encapsulating the salient features of outsourcing strategy has been proposed. The paper emphasizes on the role of outsourcing strategy in optimizing the performance of enterprises in rapidly changing environment. In the present work authors have proposed an artificial immune system based AIS-FLC algorithm embedded with the fuzzy logic controller to solve the complex problem prevailing under such scenario, while simultaneously optimizing the performance. The authors have shown the efficacy of the proposed algorithm by comparing the results with other random search methods

Integration of Process Planning and Scheduling in the Manufacturing Sector to Enhance Productivity – a Case study of Developing Countries

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.This thesis describes research carried out to investigate and address the problems associated with integration of process planning and scheduling through collaboration between diverse functions within manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Collaboration is an emerging necessity for functions of manufacturing companies in developing countries and has been influenced by the evolving need for gathering segmented groups with diverse knowledge and experience in developing new solutions to support addressing complex problems in a domain. Use of new technologies, to some extent, assists interaction and collaboration between segregated functions. This approach has been a feasible solution for real-time communication in virtual environment, however, functional boundaries influence the recognition of the problem-related factors affecting different functions in a domain and results in conflicts of perspectives and ineffective interaction between functions. The study carried out here investigated the limitations of existing approaches to manufacturing with a view to engaging segregated functions by integration of process planning and scheduling functions and thereby develop a new approach to address a key manufacturing company’s complex problem. Consequently, this thesis addresses the research question “How do we minimise the limitations to existing manufacturing approaches which integrate process planning and scheduling in developing countries?”. In doing so, this research brings together current literature on manufacturing systems and empirical evidence to investigate the factors that influence the effectiveness of integration of process planning and scheduling through collaborations with different functions. Review of the existing approaches to integration of process planning and scheduling and the limitations of each approach shows that the effectiveness of this integration has not been fully achieved. This resulted in developing, refining and validating a new approach to integration of process planning and scheduling which was applied in different manufacturing companies. The study resulted in significant contributions to knowledge and benefits for the manufacturing companies involved. A key contribution is development of a new approach to integration of process planning and scheduling called EC-FIKT which emphasises Effective Communication through Facilitated Information and Knowledge Transfer. The applications of EC-FIKT in the field suggest that it eliminates some of the main deficiencies of well-known approaches to integration of process planning and scheduling, and which brings additional benefits to manufacturing companies. The research has also identified areas where there is significant scope for further research and investigation

Integration of Process Planning and Scheduling in the Manufacturing Sector to Enhance Productivity – a Case study of Developing Countries

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.This thesis describes research carried out to investigate and address the problems associated with integration of process planning and scheduling through collaboration between diverse functions within manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Collaboration is an emerging necessity for functions of manufacturing companies in developing countries and has been influenced by the evolving need for gathering segmented groups with diverse knowledge and experience in developing new solutions to support addressing complex problems in a domain. Use of new technologies, to some extent, assists interaction and collaboration between segregated functions. This approach has been a feasible solution for real-time communication in virtual environment, however, functional boundaries influence the recognition of the problem-related factors affecting different functions in a domain and results in conflicts of perspectives and ineffective interaction between functions. The study carried out here investigated the limitations of existing approaches to manufacturing with a view to engaging segregated functions by integration of process planning and scheduling functions and thereby develop a new approach to address a key manufacturing company’s complex problem. Consequently, this thesis addresses the research question “How do we minimise the limitations to existing manufacturing approaches which integrate process planning and scheduling in developing countries?”. In doing so, this research brings together current literature on manufacturing systems and empirical evidence to investigate the factors that influence the effectiveness of integration of process planning and scheduling through collaborations with different functions. Review of the existing approaches to integration of process planning and scheduling and the limitations of each approach shows that the effectiveness of this integration has not been fully achieved. This resulted in developing, refining and validating a new approach to integration of process planning and scheduling which was applied in different manufacturing companies. The study resulted in significant contributions to knowledge and benefits for the manufacturing companies involved. A key contribution is development of a new approach to integration of process planning and scheduling called EC-FIKT which emphasises Effective Communication through Facilitated Information and Knowledge Transfer. The applications of EC-FIKT in the field suggest that it eliminates some of the main deficiencies of well-known approaches to integration of process planning and scheduling, and which brings additional benefits to manufacturing companies. The research has also identified areas where there is significant scope for further research and investigation

A Hybrid Approach to Process Planning: The Urban Traffic Controller Example

Automated planning and scheduling are increasingly utilised in solving evsery day planning task. Planning in domains with continuous numeric changes present certain limitations and tremendous challenges to advanced planning algorithms. There are many pertinent examples to the engineering community; however, a case study is provided through the urban traffic controller domain. This paper introduce a novel hybrid approach to state-space planning systems involving a continuous process which can be utilised in several applications. We explore Model Predictive Control (MPC) and explain how it can be introduce into planning with domains containing mixed discrete and continuous state variables. This preserves the numerous benefits of AI Planning approach by the use of explicit reasoning and declarative modelling. It also leverages on the capability of MPC to manage numeric computation and control of continuous processes. The hybrid approach was tested on an urban traffic control network to ascertain it practicability on a continuous domain; the results show its potential to control and optimise heavy volumes of traffic

Grey Wolf Optimization Algorithm for Single Mobile Robot Scheduling

Development of reliable and efficient material transport system is one of the basic requirements for creating an intelligent manufacturing environment. Nowadays, intelligent mobile robots have been widely used as one of the components to satisfy this requirement. In this paper, a methodology based on Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm is proposed in order to find the optimal solution of the nondeterministic polynomial-hard (NP-hard) single mobile robot scheduling problem. The performance criterion is to minimize total transportation time of the mobile robot while it performs internal transport of raw materials, goods, and parts in manufacturing system. The scheduling plans are obtained in Matlab environment and tested by Khepera II mobile robot system within a static laboratory model of manufacturing environment. Experimental results show the applicability and effectiveness of the developed intelligent approach in real world conditions

Integrated process planning and scheduling using genetic algorithms

Projektiranje tehnoloških procesa i planiranje predstavljaju dvije najvažnije funkcije svakog proizvodnog procesa. Tradicionalno se one smatraju dvjema odvojenim funkcijama. U ovom se radu predlaže Genetički Algoritam (GA) za integraciju ovih aktivnosti, gdje se simultano odvija izbor najboljeg tehnološkog procesa i vremenski plan poslova u pogonu. U radu se za rješavanje te vrste problema predstavlja pristup zasnovan na proračunskoj tablici neovisnog područja. U modelu se razmatraju odnosi prvenstva u izvođenju poslova na temelju kojih se donosi implicitno predstavljanje mogućih planova za izvršenje svakog posla. Zbog provjere izvršenja i ostvarivosti predstavljenog pristupa, predloženi se algoritam provjeravao na nizu referentnih problema prilagođenih iz ranije objavljene literature. Eksperimentalni rezultati pokazuju da se predloženim pristupom mogu učinkoviti postići optimalna ili njima blizu rješenja za probleme prilagođene iz literature. Također je pokazano da predloženi algoritam ima opću namjenu i može se primijeniti za optimizaciju bilo koje objektivne funkcije bez promjene modela ili osnovne GA rutine.Process planning and scheduling are two of the most important functions in any manufacturing system. Traditionally process planning and scheduling are considered as two separate functions. In this paper a Genetic Algorithm (GA) for integrated process planning and scheduling is proposed where selection of the best process plan and scheduling of jobs in a job shop environment are done simultaneously. In the proposed approach a domain independent spreadsheet based approach is presented to solve this class of problems. The precedence relations among job operations are considered in the model, based on which implicit representation of a feasible process plans for each job can be done. To verify the performance and feasibility of the presented approach, the proposed algorithm has been evaluated against a number of benchmark problems that have been adapted from the previously published literature. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can efficiently achieve optimal or near-optimal solutions for the problems adopted from literature. It is also demonstrated that the proposed algorithm is of general purpose in application and could be used for the optimisation of any objective function without changing the model or the basic GA routine