Line balancing in a just-in-time production environment: balancing multiple U-lines

The introduction of multiple, independent production lines has helped many firms to increase their production flexibility, provide for redundancy when equipment breaks down, reduce idle time and labor costs, and achieve many other benefits. This paper introduces and formalizes the multiple U-line balancing problem. Optimal solution methodologies are provided for Type I (minimize the number of stations for a given cycle time), Type II (minimize the cycle time for a given number of stations), and cost-minimization line-balancing problems. A branch-and-bound algorithm is also developed for the situation in which equipment requirements are dependent on the line configuration and the task assignment to stations. Computational results indicate that the greatest benefit of exploiting multiple lines occurs for smaller cycle-time problems that require higher output.     

Semi-automated user agents in distributed change management

Flexible integration of distributed design and manufacturing activities is one of the key issues in applying just-in-time principles along the logistics chain. The potential of AI based approaches in this field is clear, but the inherent asynchrony, concurrency, and inconsistency of distributed operations has reduced enthusiasm so far.This paper discusses coordination in the context of geographically distributed manufacturing of one-of-a-kind products. Cooperation of partners is based on semi-automated user agents which operate as an integrative layer between more dedicated tools and systems. The management of order changes in elevator manufacture is used as a case example.The work reported here is part of the DIMUN project (DIMUN, 1989) in the RACE program.     

即时定向新闻采集技术研究

互联网的迅速发展带动了信息量的爆炸性增加。如何更快地采集所需信息一直是国内外研究和开发的热点。近年来,不断增长的对特定信息(例如特定领域的新闻)的需求要求有针对性地从指定的网站即时采集相关信息。这些新闻一般具有不可预见性、更新频率较快、时效性强等特点。这要求我们必须能针对这些特点实现即时定向的采集。本文提出了一种有效抓取网页并进行分析的方法,实践表明取得了满意的效果。     

Rolling Kanban: a new visual tool to schedule family batch manufacturing processes with kanban

Rolling Kanban is the name of a kanban management methodology for batch processes manufacturing environment. Proposed in the early 2000s by FESTO Consulting, for two decades we have lost knowledge both from operative and scientific point of view. Basically, Rolling Kanban means a visual planning methodology based on the production of product-families and variants where: (i) set-up times are reduced between the products of the same family, and (ii) relevant times (dozens of minutes if not even hours) must be considered for changeover between products of different families. In addition, the cyclic production sequence between different product families cannot be maintained. Considering that very few technical information and documents are available about this approach, the main objective of this paper is to retrieve and present, for the first time to the scientific community, the Rolling Kanban methodology. Besides, a real industrial implementation concerning a manufacturer of domestic fittings is discussed as a case study. More specifically, two novel versions of the original Rolling Kanban technique are fully presented to effectively overcome certain limits and criticalities found during its operative use, such as the difficulty to realise a pull production, considering increased set-up time for changeover between products of different families.     

Just-in-time learning for the prediction of oil sands ore characteristics using GPS data in mining applications

For the mining based oilsands industry, it is desirable to determine the quality of the ore delivered to the extraction processes in real-time to make optimal operational decisions such as optimal ore blending to achieve maximal bitumen recovery. Currently, the industry determines the real-time ore characteristics for any given shovel Global Positioning System (GPS) location by first determining the shovel elevation from the topological mine map and then using the determined geological coordinates in the 3D geological block model. It should be noted that the block model is built based on the widely spaced core hole samples, and it is updated only on a yearly basis due to high cost of narrower core hole sampling. Thus, the block model predictions are often inaccurate in between the core hole spacing. On the other hand, mining operations data are available that contain accurate ore characteristics information in the already mined area. Therefore, in this work, we present a just-in-time based data-driven modelling strategy that utilizes the recently available mining operations data to obtain reliable ore characteristics given the GPS data. The prediction capability of ore characteristics using the proposed modelling strategy is validated at core hole locations. Further, the prediction of ore characteristics at non-core hole points demonstrate promising results.     

基于即时学习算法的铸坯质量预测方法

传统铸坯质量预测大多基于全局建模方法,存在自适应能力较差、预测精度不稳定等不足。为此,提出了一种基于即时学习算法的铸坯质量预测方法,主要特征为构建基于即时学习算法的局部模型,以取代传统全局模型,实现建模和预测同时在线进行,更适应于场景复杂、工况多变的连铸生产过程;根据连铸生产数据的时变性特点,在相似度计算中引入时间权重因子,强化样本数据与待测数据的相关性,更有利于提高铸坯质量预测模型精度。以国内某钢厂65号高碳钢铸坯三角区裂纹为例,具体说明即时学习算法在铸坯质量预测局部模型构建中的应用,并与铸坯质量预测全局模型的预测结果进行对比分析及评价。结果表明,基于即时学习算法的局部模型在评价指标上均优于全局模型,全局模型的预测准确率为65%,基于即时学习算法的局部模型准确率提升至90%,进一步阐明基于即时学习算法的局部模型用于铸坯质量预测的有效性。     

A DSS for Production Planning

This paper presents a decision support system designed to aid the production planner in choosing the values of the principle parameters governing just-in-time manufacturing. The DSS uses a knowledge base composed of data from simulations of the production of the entire product line under systematically varied conditions. The planners may add data from actual production experience as it is obtained. The stochastic dominance outranking method of Martel and Zaras allows the identification of clusters of parameters that respect the preferences of the decision maker. When launching an order for a product, the decision maker may judge certain sets of parameters to be equivalent. A visual interactive simulation model will then allow their comparison according to three performance criteria.     

基于准时制思想的炼钢—连铸生产动态调度算法

通过对炼钢—连铸生产动态调度问题的分析，建立了基于准时制思想的炼钢—连铸生产动态调度模型．提出了一种基于多个邻域结构和种群进化策略的进化迭代局部搜索算法，用于求解该模型．基于实际生产数据的仿真试验证明了所提出模型和算法的有效性．     

Lean Software Development: Two Case Studies

This paper shows how the concepts of lean manufacturing can be successfully transferred from the manufacture of cars and electrical goods to software development. The key lean concept is to minimize work in progress, so quickly forcing any production problems into the open. Production is then halted to allow each problem with the system producing the goods, to be permanently corrected. While frustrating at first, the end result is very high levels of productivity and quality.Large industrial companies are beginning to transfer their lean production expertise to their in-house software development projects. The two case studies reported here confirm that lean software development can produce rapid quality and productivity gains. A major implementation issue is that lean software development may require deep changes in the way an organization is managed.     

Nash and integrated solutions in a just-in-time seller–buyer supply chain with buyer's ordering cost reductions

The seller frequently offers the buyer trade credit to settle the purchase amount. From the seller's prospective, granting trade credit increases not only the opportunity cost (i.e., the interest loss on the buyer's purchase amount during the credit period) but also the default risk (i.e., the rate that the buyer will be unable to pay off his/her debt obligations). On the other hand, granting trade credit increases sales volume and revenue. Consequently, trade credit is an important strategy to increase seller's profitability. In this paper, we assume that the seller uses trade credit and number of shipments in a production run as decision variables to maximise his/her profit, while the buyer determines his/her replenishment cycle time and capital investment as decision variables to reduce his/her ordering cost and achieve his/her maximum profit. We then derive non-cooperative Nash solution and cooperative integrated solution in a just-in-time inventory system, in which granting trade credit increases not only the demand but also the opportunity cost and default risk, and the relationship between the capital investment and the ordering cost reduction is logarithmic. Then, we use a software to solve and compare these two distinct solutions. Finally, we use sensitivity analysis to obtain some managerial insights.