Optimizing material handling costs in an assembly workshop

International audienceThe intense competition imposed by the current global market, forces companies to implement lean manufacturing techniques. Major progress has already been made in this field and factories continue to reduce costs and lead times. Within this context, the crucial impact of logistics on production efficiency renders the design and planning of the supply chain a key factor in the reduction of costs and the maximisation of product availability. The logistics of an assembly workshop are usually specified empirically, which often generates an overestimation of its needs. Therefore, the current study focuses on these needs and introduces the ACW (assignment of components in warehouses) method for optimising the assignment of components to storage areas. This original method is based on a successive resolution of cost assessments, shortest path problems and generalised assignment problems. It takes into account congestions in the network of aisles that appear during the loading/unloading stages of material handling. A case study of Renault's Flins factory is detailed to validate the proposed method

The anti-cancer drug supply chain: a coupled production-distribution problem

International audienc

Solution of a Facility Layout Problem in a Final Assembly Workshop using Constraint Programming

International audience— Today's global market is subject to high competition and many companies face the necessity of cost reduction. In this context, the current study focuses on the efficiency of manufacturing and, especially, on how industries can lay out their facilities taking into account investment and operating costs (logistic flow) to increase their efficiency. A model is proposed to resolve the facility layout of a final assembly workshop using constraint programming. Due to the complexity of the problem, a three-stage heuristic solution algorithm is derived from this model. This proposition has the particularity of integrating the basic investment and operating costs, and considers supply costs of component storages on the line sides. The method is detailed in a case study involving a carmaker final assembly workshop. Due to constraint programming flexibility, equivalent approaches can be applied to different facility layout contexts

Irradiation of intracerebral 9L gliosarcoma by a single array of microplanar x-ray beams from a synchrotron: balance between curing and sparing

The purpose of this work was the understanding of microbeam radiation therapy at the ESRF in order to find the best compromise between curing of tumors and sparing of normal tissues, to obtain a better understanding of survival curves and to report its efficiency. This method uses synchrotron-generated x-ray microbeams. Rats were implanted with 9L gliosarcomas and the tumors were diagnosed by MRI. They were irradiated 14 days after implantation by arrays of 25 microm wide microbeams in unidirectional mode, with a skin entrance dose of 625 Gy. The effect of using 200 or 100 microm center-to-center spacing between the microbeams was compared. The median survival time (post-implantation) was 40 and 67 days at 200 and 100 microm spacing, respectively. However, 72% of rats irradiated at 100 microm spacing showed abnormal clinical signs and weight patterns, whereas only 12% of rats were affected at 200 microm spacing. In parallel, histological lesions of the normal brain were found in the 100 microm series only. Although the increase in lifespan was equal to 273% and 102% for the 100 and 200 microm series, respectively, the 200 microm spacing protocol provides a better sparing of healthy tissue and may prove useful in combination with other radiation modalities or additional drugs

Exploring new operational research opportunities within the Home Care context: the chemotherapy at home

Health service, Home care, Operations planning, Anti-cancer drug supply chain, Scheduling,

Radiation Therapy Using Synchrotron Radiation: Preclinical Studies Toward Clinical Trials

International audienceAfter decades of intensive research, high-grade gliomas are still resistant to therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy or a combination thereof. The most important advance in the treatment of these tumors has been the introduction of a new chemotherapy drug called temozolomide, in combination with external beam photon irradiation [1]. One of the goals of the association of the CHU/UJF/ INSERM and ESRF teams has been to develop research on synchrotron radiotherapy up to clinics