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.     

Strategic appraisal of energy models for Mozambique

The needs that an energy supply system must meet are constantly changing, due to technological, social and political reasons. Effective energy planning is a dynamic process that is repeated periodically and adjusts to changing conditions. Energy decision makers and planners are no longer able to rely on inductive decision making since they have to investigate the effect of various decision parameters and possible future changes. To help in this process, models have been developed where estimates of future load growth, candidate power plants, fuels and other key factors can be introduced, from which the planners can evaluate decision parameters and the available alternatives. The paper presents the different methodologies and practices that are used by 11 energy models for energy demand forecasting, supply side management and generation expansion planning, demand side management and integrated resource planning. The paper concludes to the presentation of a strategic appraisal of the examined energy models appropriate for energy planning in Mozambique. Three models are proposed for conducting demand forecasting, generation expansion planning and demand side management. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

上海市电话局用户接入网发展状况

上海市电话局用户接入网建设经历了调研、网络规划、启动实施和进一步完善、规范四个怅阶段、现已基本形成了覆盖政府机关、大专院校、医院、商务大楼及高层建筑、新建住宅小区、区级以上图书馆等范围的用户光纤网络，为加快经济建设步伐、满足多层次用户需求、拓展电信新业务打下了坚实基础。     

一种派生式与创成式相结合的CAPP系统

本文结合为某机械厂开发的实用计算机辅助工艺设计系统(JJCAPP),论述了一种兼有派生式和创成式特点的综合式工艺自动设计方法.     

浅论水电规划工作思路

在水电的前期设计阶段，规划专业的重要性显而易见。由于水电规划工作涉及专业很多，如果仅停留于规划专业本身，未必能解决问题。在规划工作中，既有定量的计算，也有定性的分析；既要站在国家的角度进行评价，也要进行企业的财务效益分析；既要考虑目前的现实情况，也要对未来的发展做出预测；既有企业的主观意志，也有自然、社会历史的限制。总之，规划专业是涉及多目标、多量纲的综合判断，若以局部来通观全体，则一定要流于片面的谬误。因此，水电规划工作须进行辩证的综合研究。     

上海市松江新城突进式发展的体制创新与探索

本文用理论和现实的案例分析详细阐述了“经营城市”的六项特征和“三赢”的理念 ,简要介绍了松江新城在财政不出一分钱的情况下为取得突进式发展所采取的制度创新和探索 ,并总结了两点如何树立规划权威性的经验。     

价格不确定情况下炼厂生产计划的优化

生产计划的编制是炼油企业生产经营管理中的一个关键环节，然而由于市场变化的不确定性，使企业制度长远规划受到限制，笔者将多目标规划应用于炼厂价格不确定情况下生产计划的制定，使所得到的生产计划在一定程度上反映市场的变化并能使企业的生产效益最优，为企业管理决策者进行长远规划给予指导。通过实例验证了该方法的可行性。     

关于混联梯级水电站经济调度的研究

提出采用具有附加线性约束的网络规划法，可把混联梯级水电站分解为几个子网络，简化了每个子网络的求解计算，从而加速大电网复杂的经济调度的计算速度。     

Planning the GMAW process by constraint propagation

Although the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process is widely used for joining metals, its planning is still a cumbersome task. The planning procedure involves many complex interrelationships among the process variables and depends heavily on empirical knowledge. Therefore, a solution method that allows a convenient way to represent the domain knowledge and evaluate the process variable relationships is needed. Further, the lack of a strong domain theory to quantify these interrelationships is a deficiency in the planning of the GMAW process. This paper presents a solution method that overcomes this deficiency and introduces a convenient knowledge representation scheme. The solution method considers the planning procedure to be a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). The AC-4 algorithm is used to obtain arc consistency among nodes in the constraint network and the PC-4 algorithm is applied to obtain path consistency in the network. A modified version of the AC-4 algorithm is developed to reduce the search space and correspondingly reduce the computation time. An example is presented to demonstrate the capability of the method and its potential to reduce lead time.