Integration of process planning and scheduling—A modified genetic algorithm-based approach

Traditionally, process planning and scheduling for parts were carried out in a sequential way, where scheduling was done after process plans had been generated. Considering the fact that the two functions are usually complementary, it is necessary to integrate them more tightly so that performance of a manufacturing system can be improved greatly. In this paper, a new integration model and a modified genetic algorithm-based approach have been developed to facilitate the integration and optimization of the two functions. In the model, process planning and scheduling functions are carried out simultaneously. In order to improve the optimized performance of the modified genetic algorithm-based approach, more efficient genetic representations and operator schemes have been developed. Experimental studies have been conducted and the comparisons have been made between this approach and others to indicate the superiority and adaptability of this method. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is a promising and very effective method for the integration of process planning and scheduling.     

求解柔性机器人车间调度问题的混合蚁群算法

在柔性作业车间调度问题的基础上,考虑多台搬运机器人执行不同工序在不同机床之间的搬运,形成柔性机器人作业车间调度问题,提出混合蚁群算法。用改进析取图对问题进行描述,使用混合选择策略、自适应伪随机比例规则和改进信息素更新规则优化蚁群算法,结合遗传算子完成机床选择和工序排序。使用一种多机器人排序算法完成搬运机器人分配和搬运工序排序。通过多组算例仿真测试并与其他算法进行比较,验证了算法的有效性和可靠性。     

面向柔性制造车间的多目标RFID网络规划方法

针对具有多种覆盖需求的柔性制造车间RFID网络规划问题,以部署成本、阅读器干扰与阅读器效能为多优化目标,提出一种分层聚类、冗余消减与梯度下降方法集成的RFID网络规划方法,采用分层聚类算法确定RFID初始数量与部署位置,采用冗余阅读器消减算法优化RFID数量,采用梯度下降算法优化RFID部署位置从而实现网络规划多目标优化。实验研究表明,提出的方法在多目标综合性能方面优于传统基于分层聚类方法、遗传算法、粒子群与冗余消减混合方法的RFID网络规划方法,验证了该方法的有效性。     

Integration of process planning and scheduling using chaotic particle swarm optimization algorithm

Process planning and scheduling are two of the most important manufacturing functions traditionally performed separately and sequentially. These functions being complementary and interrelated, their integration is essential for the optimal utilization of manufacturing resources. Such integration is also significant for improving the performance of the modern manufacturing system. A variety of alternative manufacturing resources (machine tools, cutting tools, tool access directions, etc.) causes integrated process planning and scheduling (IPPS) problem to be strongly NP-hard (non deterministic polynomial) in terms of combinatorial optimization. Therefore, an optimal solution for the problem is searched in a vast search space. In order to explore the search space comprehensively and avoid being trapped into local optima, this paper focuses on using the method based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm and chaos theory (cPSO). The initial solutions for the IPPS problem are presented in the form of the particles of cPSO algorithm. The particle encoding/decoding scheme is also proposed in this paper. Flexible process and scheduling plans are presented using AND/OR network and five flexibility types: machine, tool, tool access direction (TAD), process, and sequence flexibility. Optimal process plans are obtained by multi-objective optimization of production time and production cost. On the other hand, optimal scheduling plans are generated based on three objective functions: makespan, balanced level of machine utilization, and mean flow time. The proposed cPSO algorithm is implemented in Matlab environment and verified extensively using five experimental studies. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing (SA) based approach, and hybrid algorithm. Moreover, the scheduling plans obtained by the proposed methodology are additionally tested by Khepera II mobile robot using a laboratory model of manufacturing environment.     

Honey bees mating optimization algorithm for process planning problem

Process planning is a very important function in the modern manufacturing system. It impacts the efficiency of the manufacturing system greatly. The process planning problem has been proved to be a NP-hard problem. The traditional algorithms cannot solve this problem very well. Therefore, due to the intractability and importance of process planning problem, it is very necessary to develop efficiency algorithms which can obtain a good process plan with minimal global machining cost in reasonable time. In this paper, a new method based on honey bees mating optimization (HBMO) algorithm is proposed to optimize the process planning problem. With respect to the characteristics of process planning problem, the solution encoding, crossover operator, local search strategies have been developed. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, three experiments have been carried out, and the comparisons among HBMO and some other existing algorithms are also presented. The results demonstrate that the HBMO algorithm has achieved satisfactory improvement.     

Deadlock-free scheduling and control of flexible manufacturing cells using automata theory

This paper presents a novel method for the scheduling and control of flexible manufacturing cells (FMCs). The approach employs automata, augmented by time labels proposed herein, for the modeling of machines, transportation devices, buffers, precedence constraints, and part routes. Ramadge-Wonham's supervisory-control theory is then used to synthesize a deadlock-free controller that is also capable of keeping track of time. For a given set of parts to be processed by the cell, A/sup */ search algorithm is subsequently employed using a proposed heuristic function. Three different production configurations are considered: Case 1) each part has a unique route; Case 2) parts may have multiple routes, but same devices in each route; and Case 3) parts may have multiple routes with different devices. The proposed approach yields optimal deadlock-free schedules for the first two cases. For Case 3, our simulations have yielded effective solutions but in practice, optimal deadlock-free schedules may not be obtainable without sacrificing computational time efficiency. One such nontime-efficient method is included in this paper. The proposed approach is illustrated through three typical manufacturing-cell simulation examples; the first adopted from a Petri-net-based scheduling paper, the second adopted from a mathematical-programming-based scheduling paper, and the third, a new example that deals with a more complex FMC scenario where parts have multiple routes for their production. These and other simulations clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed automata-based scheduling methodology.     

Application of ant colony optimization algorithm in process planning optimization

One objective of process planning optimization is to cut down the total cost for machining process, and the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is used for the optimization in this paper. Firstly, the process planning problem, considering the selection of machining resources, operations sequence optimization and the manufacturing constraints, is mapped to a weighted graph and is converted to a constraint-based traveling salesman problem. The operation sets for each manufacturing features are mapped to city groups, the costs for machining processes (including machine cost and tool cost) are converted to the weights of the cities; the costs for preparing processes (including machine changing, tool changing and set-up changing) are converted to the ‘distance’ between cities. Then, the mathematical model for process planning problem is constructed by considering the machining constraints and goal of optimization. The ACO algorithm has been employed to solve the proposed mathematical model. In order to ensure the feasibility of the process plans, the Constraint Matrix and State Matrix are used in this algorithm to show the state of the operations and the searching range of the candidate operations. Two prismatic parts are used to compare the ACO algorithm with tabu search, simulated annealing and genetic algorithm. The computing results show that the ACO algorithm performs well in process planning optimization than other three algorithms.     

Feature extraction and volume decomposition for orthogonal layered manufacturing

Robust and efficient process planning techniques play an important role in CAD/CAM integration. These techniques need to be developed for each type of manufacturing processes owing to the unique characteristics of each of these processes. In this paper, we describe feature extraction techniques that can be applied to layered manufacturing (LM). The aim is to improve the LM process efficiency by considering the specific feature information of the model, which is normally neglected by previous researches. A feature-based LM system has been developed using these techniques. Based on the proposed orthogonal LM system, features extracted from the geometric analysis are defined in the LM domain, and the algorithm for process planning and volume decomposition based on the specific LM features is proposed and implemented.     

柔性制造系统的改进粒子群无死锁调度算法

基于柔性制造系统的Petri网模型,以制造期最小为优化目标,将死锁避免策略嵌入粒子群算法中,提出一种无死锁改进粒子群调度算法.该算法将粒子与工件的工序序列相对应,以位置数值的大小表示对应工件工序在执行顺序中的优先级.采用一步向前看的死锁避免策略方法对序列的可行性进行验证,提出一种跳出局部极值的策略.实例仿真结果表明了粒子群调度算法的可行性和有效性,以及改进粒子群调度算法的优越性.     

A cyber-physical robotic mobile fulfillment system in smart manufacturing: The simulation aspect

Incorporating mobile robots into the production shop-floor helps realize the concept of smart production, and it is considered one of the approaches to enhance manufacturing and operational efficiency and effectiveness by academics and industrial practitioners. This paper develops a cyber-physical robotic mobile fulfillment system (CPRMFS) for tool storage in smart manufacturing. The purpose is to enable Just-in-Time material transfer on the production shop-floor during manufacturing. A decentralized multi-robot path planning adopts graph neural networks (GNN) in the new proposed CPRMFS. We compare multiple classification algorithms for the mobile robots' action prediction, including proposing a spatial-temporal graph convolutional network (ST-GNN) under these circumstances. We also extend the research with the enhanced conflict-based search path planning algorithm. Compared with the existing literature, ST-GNN, under the enhanced conflict-based search, could obtain higher accuracy with an average value of 90% under different scenarios. The practical applicability of the proposed system with the further consideration of ST-GNN is further explained as a reference for manufacturing practitioners who looked out on a confrontation of introducing the mobile robot solutions in their manufacturing site with the goal of enhancing the operation processes.     

Pareto frontier for simultaneous structural and manufacturing optimization of a composite part

Optimized design of composite structures requires simultaneous optimization of structural performance and manufacturing process. Such a challenge calls for a multi-objective optimization. Here, a generating multi-objective optimization method called normalized normal constraint method, which attains a set of optimal solutions and allows the designer to explore design alternatives before making the final decision, is coupled with a local-global search called constrained globalized bounded Nelder–Mead method. The proposed approach is applied to the design of a Z-shaped composite bracket for optimization of structural and manufacturing objectives. Comparison of the results with non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) shows that when only a small number of function evaluations are possible and a few Pareto optima are desired, the proposed method outperforms NSGA-II in terms of convergence to the true Pareto frontier. The results are validated by an enumeration search and by exploring the neighbourhood of the final solutions.     

Design of robust cellular manufacturing system for dynamic part population considering multiple processing routes using genetic algorithm

In this paper, a comprehensive mathematical model is proposed for designing robust machine cells for dynamic part production. The proposed model incorporates machine cell configuration design problem bridged with the machines allocation problem, the dynamic production problem and the part routing problem. Multiple process plans for each part and alternatives process routes for each of those plans are considered. The design of robust cell configurations is based on the selected best part process route from user specified multiple process routes for each part type considering average product demand during the planning horizon. The dynamic part demand can be satisfied from internal production having limited capacity and/or through subcontracting part operation without affecting the machine cell configuration in successive period segments of the planning horizon. A genetic algorithm based heuristic is proposed to solve the model for minimization of the overall cost considering various manufacturing aspects such as production volume, multiple process route, machine capacity, material handling and subcontracting part operation.     

A simulation-based evolutionary multiobjective approach to manufacturing cell formation

The purpose of this paper is to propose a multiobjective optimization approach for solving the manufacturing cell formation problem, explicitly considering the performance of this said manufacturing system. Cells are formed so as to simultaneously minimize three conflicting objectives, namely, the level of the work-in-process, the intercell moves and the total machinery investment. A genetic algorithm performs a search in the design space, in order to approximate to the Pareto optimal set. The values of the objectives for each candidate solution in a population are assigned by running a discrete-event simulation, in which the model is automatically generated according to the number of machines and their distribution among cells implied by a particular solution. The potential of this approach is evaluated via its application to an illustrative example, and a case from the relevant literature. The obtained results are analyzed and reviewed. Therefore, it is concluded that this approach is capable of generating a set of alternative manufacturing cell configurations considering the optimization of multiple performance measures, greatly improving the decision making process involved in planning and designing cellular systems.     

一种实时多目标路径规划方法

提出一种利用实时搜索思想的多目标路径规划方法.首先设计并实现局部路径规划算法,在有限的局部空间内执行启发式搜索,求解所有局部非支配路径;在此基础上,提出实时多目标路径规划方法,设计并实现相应的启发式搜索算法,在线交替执行局部搜索过程、学习过程与移动过程,分别用于求解局部空间内的最优移动路径,完成状态的转移和更新状态的启发信息,最终到达目标状态.研究表明,实时多目标启发式搜索算法通过限制局部搜索空间,避免了大量不必要的计算,提高了搜索效率,能够高效地求解多目标路径规划问题.     

A physical hash for preventing and detecting cyber-physical attacks in additive manufacturing systems

Cyber-physical security is a major concern in the modern environment of digital manufacturing, wherein a cyber-attack has the potential to result in the production of defective parts, theft of IP, or damage to infrastructure or the operator have become a real threat that have the potential to create bad parts. Current cyber only solutions are insufficient due to the nature of manufacturing environments where it may not be feasible or even possible to upgrade physical equipment to the most current cyber security standards, necessitating an approach that addresses both the cyber and the physical components. This paper proposes a new method for detecting malicious cyber-physical attacks on additive manufacturing (AM) systems. The method makes use of a physical hash, which links digital data to the manufactured part via a disconnected side-channel measurement system. The disconnection ensures that if the network and/or AM system becomes compromised, the manufacturer can still rely on the measurement system for attack detection. The physical hash ensures protection of the intellectual property (IP) associated with both process and toolpath parameters while also enabling in situ quality assurance. In this paper, the physical hash takes the form of a QR code that contains a hash string of the nominal process parameters and toolpath. It is manufactured alongside the original geometry for the measurement system to scan and compare to the readings from its sensor suite. By taking measurements in situ, the measurement system can detect in real-time if the part being manufactured matches the designer’s specification.In this paper, the overall concept and underlying algorithm of the physical hash is presented. A proof-of-concept validation is realized on a material extrusion AM machine, to demonstrate the ability of a physical hash and in situ monitoring to detect the existence (and absence) of malicious attacks on the STL file, the printing process parameters, and the printing toolpath.     

A new hybrid artificial bee colony algorithm for robust optimal design and manufacturing

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel hybrid optimization method (HRABC) based on artificial bee colony algorithm and Taguchi method. The proposed approach is applied to a structural design optimization of a vehicle component and a multi-tool milling optimization problem.A comparison of state-of-the-art optimization techniques for the design and manufacturing optimization problems is presented. The results have demonstrated the superiority of the HRABC over the other techniques like differential evolution algorithm, harmony search algorithm, particle swarm optimization algorithm, artificial immune algorithm, ant colony algorithm, hybrid robust genetic algorithm, scatter search algorithm, genetic algorithm in terms of convergence speed and efficiency by measuring the number of function evaluations required.     

Using genetic algorithms in process planning for job shop machining

This paper presents a novel computer-aided process planning model for machined parts to be made in a job shop manufacturing environment. The approach deals with process planning problems in a concurrent manner in generating the entire solution space by considering the multiple decision-making activities, i.e., operation selection, machine selection, setup selection, cutting tool selection, and operations sequencing, simultaneously. Genetic algorithms (GAs) were selected due to their flexible representation scheme. The developed GA is able to achieve a near-optimal process plan through specially designed crossover and mutation operators. Flexible criteria are provided for plan evaluation. This technique was implemented and its performance is illustrated in a case study. A space search method is used for comparison     

基于改进遗传算法的无人机路径规划

针对传统遗传算法收敛速度慢、容易陷入局部最优、规划路径不够平滑、代价高等问题,提出了一种基于改进遗传算法的无人机(UAV)路径规划方法,该算法对遗传算法的选择算子、交叉算子和变异算子进行改进,从而规划出平滑、可飞的路径.首先,建立适合UAV田间信息获取的环境模型,并考虑UAV的目标函数与约束条件以建立适合本场景的更为复...