A multi-objective mathematical programming for sustainable reverse logistics network design. Part II: Model application and analysis

Source at https://www.witpress.com/books/978-1-78466-169-4. Reverse logistics has received more and more attention during the past decade due to the increasing public awareness of sustainable development. Because of the fluctuation in both quantity and quality of the reverse material flow, design and planning of reverse logistics network is much more complicated compared with the forward ones. Therefore, it is important to develop decision support tools for designing reverse logistics network in an economically efficient and environmental-friendly manner. This research proposes a novel multi-objective mixed integer programming model in order to justify the relationship between the cost and sustainability of reverse logistics system, and the weighted sum utility method is employed for combining the two objective functions. This research is presented in a series of two papers. Part I formulates the conceptual framework of reverse logistics network and the mathematical programming for the minimization of the overall system cost and environmental influence. Part II introduces the weighted sum utility method for combining the two objective functions, and the application and analysis are also given in this part

Simulation of Robotic Tasks with VALIP System - Practical Application

Source at https://annals.fih.upt.ro/.In manufacturing engineering, man-machine interaction has gone from typical online programming techniques into virtual reality based offline programming methodologies. Today, a wide range of offline software tools is used to imitate, simulate and control real manufacturing systems. However, these new methodologies lack capability when it comes to human-machine communication. This paper aims to introduce a software platform, called VALIP, where users can build, share and manipulate 3D content, and collaboratively interact with processes in a 3D context, while the participating hardware and software devices can be spatially and/or logically distributed and connected together via the Internet. This unique approach makes the VALIP outstanding among its competitors. The paper also presents a practical solution to a production task

Towards smart layout design for a reconfigurable manufacturing system

Global competition and increased variety in products have created challenges for manufacturing companies. One solution to handle the variety in production is to use reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). These are modular systems where machines can be rearranged depending on what is being manufactured. However, implementing a rearrangeable system drastically increases complexity, among which one challenge with RMS is how to design a new layout for a customized product in a highly autonomous and responsive fashion, known as the layout design problem. In this paper, we combine several Industry 4.0 technologies, i.e., IIoT, digital twin, simulation, advanced robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI), together with optimization to create a smart layout design system for RMS. The system automates the layout design process of RMS and removes the need for humans to design a new layout of the system

Investigation of wireless electrification for a reconfigurable manufacturing cell

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) with a rearrangeable structure can quickly adjust their productivity to meet the dynamic market changes and the demand for high-variety products. Industry 4.0 technologies have enhanced the RMS flexibility and made the automation of the reconfiguration of the manufacturing system possible. As an Industry 4.0 technology, wireless power transfer (WPT) can further increase the flexibility of RMS by providing safe, reliable, and maintenance-free autonomous charging. This paper examines the wireless electrification of RMS by investigating different WPT configurations that increase flexibility and autonomy, creating a highly flexible RMS. It also proposes a battery charging platform for further enhancement of the flexibility of RMS. As a low-cost WPT solution, the paper tests capacitive charging systems. The proposed charging system has about 135 W power transfer capability at a 5 cm distance and about 84% efficiency

Common Educational Teleoperation Platform for Robotics Utilizing Digital Twins

The erratic modern world introduces challenges to all sectors of societies and potentially introduces additional inequality. One possibility to decrease the educational inequality is to provide remote access to facilities that enable learning and training. A similar approach of remote resource usage can be utilized in resource-poor situations where the required equipment is available at other premises. The concept of Industry 5.0 (i5.0) focuses on a human-centric approach, enabling technologies to concentrate on human–machine interaction and emphasizing the importance of societal values. This paper introduces a novel robotics teleoperation platform supported by the i5.0. The platform reduces inequality and allows usage and learning of robotics remotely independently of time and location. The platform is based on digital twins with bi-directional data transmission between the physical and digital counterparts. The proposed system allows teleoperation, remote programming, and near real-time monitoring of controlled robots, robot time scheduling, and social interaction between users. The system design and implementation are described in detail, followed by experimental results

Resultater og erfaringer etter bruk av Distance-metoden ved hønsefugltakseringer i Midt-Norge

I denne utredningen presenterer vi noen av hovedresultatene og erfaringene fra det takseringsarbeidet på lirype og skogsfugl, som vi ved Høgskolen i Nord-Trøndelag (HiNT) har utført i samarbeid med et 30-talls rettighetshavere i Midt-Norge de senere år. Dette takseringsarbeidet inngår som en grunnleggende del i ”Rypeforvaltningsprosjektet 2006-2011”1, et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom Høgskolen i Hedmark (HiHm), HiNT og Norsk institutt for naturforskning, hvor Statskog og Norskog er prosjekteiere.HiNT, Fylkesmannen i Nord-Trøndelag, Norges Forskningsråd, samt 12 kommuner i Nord-Trøndelag og 5 i Sør-Trøndela

Methodological framework and design methodology for developing underwater manipulation systems

Until recently, underwater manipulation tasks have been conducted by human divers alone or in co-operation with ROVs equipped with one or two manipulator arms. Divers are flexible and can perform a lot of different work tasks, but diving operations are expensive and there is a great deal of risk to enter such a hostile environment. Oil drilling operations around the world are moved into deeper water compared with those only a few years ago, and the humans can not be present in water depths below 600 meters maximum. So to be able to interfere with the sub-sea installations, to conduct inspection, repair and maintenance operations, there is a need to have automatic equipment with the necessary capability to perform both planned and unplanned intervention tasks. In general there are two different ways to automate the work tasks: -Either by creating a set of special equipment, specially made for every work task or -By building/using a robotic systems The first equipment offers less flexibility, and even a small change in the external conditions of the work task makes it necessary to physically modify the equipment. The robotic solution offers higher flexibility, but is more complicated to design and as well operate. In this dissertation I have identified those underwater intervention work tasks that exist today and those that will be forced upon us in the near future, due to the strong incentive to “get the man out the water”. The bare amount of different work classes is a clear incentive to choose a flexible instead of a specialised solution when it comes to intervention equipment. Thus, the robotic solution (ROV-manipulator), which offers the necessary flexibility, is selected as the R&D subject of this dissertation. The increasing rigorous requirements from off-shore oil and gas fields on underwater XQPDQQHG manipulation in the hostile and unstructured/semi-structured sub-sea environment require constant improvement of the ROV-based underwater manipulation systems. Thus, there is a need to develop methodologies for aiding to optimally and formally develop and design new generation underwater unmanned manipulation systems. For meeting such necessity, this dissertation works to identify an overall concept and methodological framework for underwater manipulator system development. Further, the serial manipulator is identified to be a natural solution for the workspace constraint environment, and the serial structure is selected for further analysis in this dissertation. I have identified the necessity of developing a precise design methodology, for aiding system designers to design a precise underwater serial arm manipulator working in a workspace constraint environment, capable of doing high precision work. During the design stage of a precisive manipulator system the necessity of evaluation loops has become clear. The design team needs to evaluate the effect of their design considerations/decisions upon the precision requirement. Thus, an iterative method of “design – evaluation - design-evaluation” is suggested as the precise design methodology. Gaining knowledge of the effect of possible choices enables the design group, before too many ruling decisions has been made, to make an optimum solution. The precision evaluation or as we say, error analysis methodology, involves a procedure which aims to identify physical errors, find their influence onto the kinematic chain, calculate the error effected real kinematic chain and compare the ideal end-effector pose with the real kinematic pose, so as to identify the single error influence or selected (all) error influence. Both theoretical results and a case study is presented in this dissertation. As the final step in the general design procedure, a prototype is to be built and tested. The ISO 9283 standard “Manipulating industrial robots, performance criteria and related test methods” describes the test methods for a set of important performances of the manipulator system. However, the outcome from the performance measurements is a numerical value of how big the deviation from the ideal selected reference is. Performance measures does not state why and from where the errors origin from. This latter is especially important for the designer to have more knowledge about, because he/she may have to make changes to the construction, if some of the performance measurement is out of the specified requirements. In the final part of this dissertation, an experimental error mapping methodology is outlined. With the benefit of giving the designer a possible way to split up the numerical value from the performance measurements and map these numerical values to specific parts or areas of the construction

A multi-objective mathematical programming for sustainable reverse logistics network design. Part I: Model formulation

Reverse logistics has received more and more attention during the past decade due to the increasing public awareness of sustainable development. Because of the fluctuation in both quantity and quality of the reverse material flow, design and planning of reverse logistics network is much more complicated comparing with the forward ones. Therefore, it is important to develop decision support tools for designing reverse logistics network in an economically efficient and environment-friendly manner. This research proposes a novel multi-objective mixed integer programming model in order to justify the relationship between the cost and sustainability of reverse logistics system, and the weighted sum utility method is employed for combining the two objective functions. This research is presented in a series of two papers. Part I formulates the conceptual framework of reverse logistics network and the mathematical programming for the minimization of the overall system cost and environmental influence. Part II introduces the weighted sum utility method for combining the two objective functions, and the application and analysis are also given in this part

A Goal Programming Approach for Green Supply Chain Network Optimization

Green supply chain management has been focused by both academicians and practitioners in recent years due to the increased public awareness on environmental problems and sustainable development. In this paper, a decision aided model for green supply chain network design and optimization is proposed to justify both economic and environmental performance in an optimal fashion. The model is formulated as a bi-objective goal programming model aiming to balance supply chain cost and CO2 emission, which are usually conflict with each other. The model is validated through a numerical experiment, and discussion and analysis are also given based upon the computational result. The result provides managerial insights for companies in the supply chain, and it has been proved to be an effective tool for decision-making in strategic level of supply management. In general, more investment has to be spent for reducing the CO2 emission in a supply chain, and the result of sensitivity analysis presents the cost effectiveness in achieving the environmental goal

A multi-objective mathematical programming for sustainable reverse logistics network design. Part II: Model application and analysis

Reverse logistics has received more and more attention during the past decade due to the increasing public awareness of sustainable development. Because of the fluctuation in both quantity and quality of the reverse material flow, design and planning of reverse logistics network is much more complicated compared with the forward ones. Therefore, it is important to develop decision support tools for designing reverse logistics network in an economically efficient and environmental-friendly manner. This research proposes a novel multi-objective mixed integer programming model in order to justify the relationship between the cost and sustainability of reverse logistics system, and the weighted sum utility method is employed for combining the two objective functions. This research is presented in a series of two papers. Part I formulates the conceptual framework of reverse logistics network and the mathematical programming for the minimization of the overall system cost and environmental influence. Part II introduces the weighted sum utility method for combining the two objective functions, and the application and analysis are also given in this part