Joint production control and product quality decision making in a failure prone multiple-product manufacturing system

This paper considers joint production control and product quality specifications decision making in unreliable multiple-product manufacturing system. This is with the knowledge that an optimum compromise should guide the decision making process. In fact, tight process specifications will generally lead to products with good quality and higher market values, but at the same time associated with a higher rate of non-conforming parts rejection leading to higher non quality costs and lower plant productivity. Moreover, in unreliable manufacturing context the decision maker should adopt an adequate production policy to hedge against future capacity shortages caused by machine failures in order to meet customer demand. This paper intends to extend previous findings to tackle this problem and study the overall decision making process aiming to guide the production and quality specification decisions in multiple-product context. The overall optimal decision policy is defined here as one that maximises the long term average per unit time profit of a combined measure of quality and quantity dependent sales revenue, minus inventory and backlog costs, in the presence of random plant failures and random repair durations.     

基于柔性多体动力学的瓦楞成型系统建模与仿真研究

针对某型号瓦楞机的瓦楞成型系统,基于自主研发的多体动力学求解程序,建立其刚柔耦合动力学模型。其中张力辊、瓦楞辊等主要支撑辊简化为刚体模型;传送带由36自由度绝对节点坐标四边形壳单元划分网格,并考虑其树脂材料的正交各向异性特征;此外,传送带与支撑辊之间的接触采用赫兹碰撞模型和点-面检测方法描述。利用该模型,计算了传送带的偏心位移,传送带表层应力场等动响应。仿真表明:基于绝对节点坐标法建立的瓦楞成型系统的多体动力学模型,可为瓦楞机传送带的动力学行为和控制研究提供一种新的分析方法。     

Solving machine loading problems in a flexible manufacturing system using a genetic algorithm based heuristic approach

The machine-loading problem of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) has been recognized as one of the most important planning problems. In this research, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based heuristic is proposed to solve the machine loading problem of a random type FMS. The objective of the loading problems is to minimize the system unbalance and maximize the throughput, satisfying the technological constraints such as availability of machining time, and tool slots. The proposed GA-based heuristic determines the part type sequence and the operation-machine allocation that guarantee the optimal solution to the problem, rather than using fixed predetermined part sequencing rules. The efficiency of the proposed heuristic has been tested on ten sample problems and the results obtained have been compared with those of existing methods.     

基于网络的电子提花机控制系统

详细描述了一种面向网络的电子提花机控制系统的设计,包括基于嵌入式系统的电控箱的设计、服务器的架构、终端的功能等。该方案能够以较低的成本实现国外同类产品相同的功能。     

Control of manufacturing networks which contain a batch processing machine

We consider the control of a batch processing machine which is part of a larger manufacturing network of machines. Systems consisting of a batch processing machine and one or more unit-capacity machines in tandem are considered. The objective is to minimize the average time that jobs spend in the entire system. We present algorithms to determine the optimal policies for certain finite horizon, deterministic problems. We then discuss the structure of the optimal policies for infinite horizon, stochastic problems, and investigate the benefit of utilizing information about upstream and downstream unit-capacity machines in the control of the batch machine. We develop a simple heuristic scheduling policy to control the batch machine which takes into account the state of other machines in the network. Computational results demonstrate the effectiveness of our heuristic over a wide range of problem instances.     

Design of delayed reconfigurable manufacturing system based on part family grouping and machine selection

To improve the convertibility of reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS), the concept of delayed reconfigurable manufacturing system (D-RMS) was proposed. RMS and D-RMS are both constructed around part family. However, D-RMS may suffer from ultra-long system problem with unacceptable idle machines using generic RMS part families. Besides, considering the complex basic system structure of D-RMS, machine selection of D-RMS should be addressed, including dedicated machine, flexible machine, and reconfigurable machine. Therefore, a system design method for D-RMS based on part family grouping and machine selection is proposed. Firstly, a part family grouping method is proposed for D-RMS that groups the parts with more former common operations into the same part family. The concept of longest relative position common operation subsequence (LPCS) is proposed. The similarity coefficient among the parts is calculated based on LPCS. The reciprocal value of the operation position of LPCS is adopted as the characteristic value. The average linkage clustering (ALC) algorithm is used to cluster the parts. Secondly, a machine selection method is proposed to complete the system design of D-RMS, including machine selection rules and the dividing point decision model. Finally, a case study is given to implement and verify the proposed system design method for D-RMS. The results show that the proposed system design method is effective, which can group parts with more former common operations into the same part family and select appropriate machine types.     

Measuring machine and product mix flexibilities of a manufacturing system

This paper provides a brief discussion on flexibility concepts in manufacturing. It emphasizes that flexibility measurements in a manufacturing system should be studied under dynamically changing environments rather than static ones. The approaches for assessing two major flexibility types, machine flexibility and product mix flexibility response, are presented. The machine flexibility model is based on machine-operation efficiency. The product mix flexibility response model is based on the difference between products in terms of tooling requirements, the number of operations that a machine can perform and the efficiency of different machines.     

基于PLC和组态王的真空冷冻干燥机控制系统研究

介绍了一种基于组态软件平台，采用三菱公司生产的FX2N型PLC等进行控制的真空冷冻干燥机系统，经现场运行实践证明系统的可靠性、稳定性较好，深受用户好评。     

An optimal cart moving policy for a flexible manufacturing system

A flexible manufacturing system is composed of many stations such as a load/unload station, a set of workstations, and a common buffer, that are linked together with a material handling system. Each workstation consists of a limited input buffer, a single machine and a limited output buffer. The material handling system consists of a single cart moving parts in the system according to the process paths required by the parts. A part is blocked when it is moved to a workstation but cannot enter the workstation. The function of the common buffer is to temporarily store blocked parts. A blocked part is treated in accordance with a flexible manufacturing system blocking mechanism. We model the flexible manufacturing system by a closed queueing network with the flexible manufacturing system blocking mechanism and a block-dependent static Markov part routing. An optimal cart moving policy that maximizes the expected system throughput is formulated as an undiscounted semi-Markov decision process. Several properties of the optimization problem are characterized. A loop approach is developed for finding an optimal policy. An example is given to illustrate the methodology, and investigate its convergence.     

The machine loading and tool allocation problem in a flexible manufacturing system

In this paper the machine loading and tool allocation problem of an FMS is discussed, A mathematical model is developed to determine the routings of parts through the machines and to allocate appropriate cutting tools to each machine to achieve minimum overall machining cost. Computational experience with this model is presented under various system and operation parameter values. Computational refinements based on lagrangean relaxation are also discussed.     

Optimal policy in a hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing system with financial hedging

This paper proposes a hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing model with the financial hedging in the case where the randomness in demand is correlated with the financial markets. The provided models are mainly for those risk-averse remanufacturers who faced with random demand and yield. The aim of this paper is to maximise remanufacturer utility by purchasing financial instruments and producing new and remanufactured products. A hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing system production planning model is first built under mean-variance framework, and then the financial hedging is integrated into the hybrid production system. There are three main findings. First, the variance of profit with financial hedging is always less than the variance of the model without financial hedging. Second, the remanufacturer with high (low) risk aversion is more likely to produce new (remanufactured) products. Third, the model without (with) financial hedging tends to produce new (remanufactured) products unless remanufacturing cost is low (high) enough. All those findings proved that financial hedging can reduce the operational uncertainty effectively and increase the proportion of remanufacturing, which will make remanufacturing firms more economical and environmentally friendly. Therefore, remanufacturing firms can consider using financial hedging to reduce operational uncertainty.     

Performance measurement for a manufacturing system based on quality,cost and time

Product quality, manufacturing cost and manufacturing time are three of the major concerns in a manufacturing system. This study proposes a product capability index to evaluate the quality of a multi-process product and addresses the relationship between process yield and the product capability index. In addition, this paper develops a time–cost index to assess manufacturing cost and manufacturing time. The quality index and time–cost index are simultaneously used to monitor product quality and manufacturing time on a quality and time–cost analysis chart. The quality and time–cost analysis chart, providing accurate information on the quality status and time–cost status for each process, helps to initiate, effectively and efficiently, quality improvement plans to elevate product quality and manufacturing time and manufacturing cost control for a manufacturing system.     

Flexibility trade-offs in a random flexible manufacturing system: A simulation study

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) are allowing firms to take advantage of diversified, low volume production of products with short life-cycles. The flexibility provided by an FMS improves the ability of a system to respond to change. Several types of manufacturing flexibility (M F) have been identified in the literature. Ideally, it is desirable to provide an FMS with all types of flexibility. However, there is a general consensus on the discordant nature of some of the flexibilities. This makes it imperative for management to recognize which flexibilities it deems critical to the manufacturing strategy of the firm. This allows the management to trade-off some of the less important flexibilities for the more important ones, as the need arises.

This study is an attempt toward an empirical examination of the flexibility trade-offs in an FMS. By using computer simulation, we study the flexibility tradeoffs in the stochastic environment of a random FMS. Various configurations of the FMS are simulated under the influence of a variety of loading and dispatching strategies. The results show that there is a trade-off among the various flexibility types under most circumstances. However, some scenarios illustrate that an appropriate combination of the variables like scheduling environment, product variety, and system configuration, can be effective in containing these trade-offs. In other cases, it is seen that the FMS can accommodate more than one flexibility type simultaneously.     

Digital system simulation based on a computational model

Simulation in digital system design is primarily used for validating the design and predicting performance. While the simulation model of an operational system can be validated by comparing the simulated behaviour with that of the actual system, particular care is required in the representation in the case of design simulation. System design simulation implies that the design and simulation models be the same or be derivable from one another. Digital systems carry out computations. In this paper, a powerful operational semantic model for computation, referred to as aQ-sequence, is introduced and used as the formal basis for design and simulation. TheQ-sequence is a multilevel model capable of representing the system design at any one of several levels of detail and is powerful enough to represent procedural or non-procedural and synchronous or asynchronous computations. TheQ-sequence enforces a structured approach to system design, the design beginning at the top and proceeding through successive levels of detail. Design problems such as register clashes and timing hazards are formally modelled using theQ-sequence.     

一种基于机器视觉的平面加工机床控制系统的设计

针对服装、包装等加工行业中须将人工测量的纸质图纸或模型样件的尺寸信息录入计算机并转换成电子加工图纸而导致的加工周期长、生产效率低的问题,提出了一种基于机器视觉的平面加工机床控制系统,以实现对纸质图纸或模型样件的快速检测。采用“ARM+DSP”方式搭建了主从式运动控制系统,设计了系统各部分功能模块。构建了“工控机+工业CCD （charge coupled device,电荷耦合器件）相机+光源控制”的视觉检测系统,结合FAWS（feature adaptive wavelet shrinkage, 自适应特征的小波收缩）算法和麻雀搜索算法提出一种改进的FAWS算法进行图像降噪,并采用Canny算法进行图像边缘检测,实现图像轮廓的准确提取。设计了图像轮廓提取、轮廓数据转换为加工数据、数据通信等处理程序,实现了基于机器视觉的快速检测以及在系统加工过程中的人机交互。最后,对系统进行了实验测试,对实际加工效果进行了评价。结果表明,采用所研制的平面加工机床控制系统不仅能显著提高生产效率,而且能减小图像轮廓的误差。其性能稳定可靠,具有一定的工程实用价值。     

基于制造工艺约束的数控插齿机中床身拓扑优化设计

为解决立式数控插齿机中床身的拓扑优化结果在工程上加工制造困难的问题,建立了带有制造工艺约束的拓扑优化模型,采用OptiStruct对中床身进行拓扑优化设计,得到了约束条件含有体积分数及同时含有体积分数和制造工艺的2种拓扑优化结果.对比分析了2种拓扑优化结果,表明基于制造工艺约束的拓扑优化设计的中床身结构有更好的铸造性能...     

A simulation study of multiple-load-carrying automated guided vehicles in a flexible manufacturing system

Although the technology exists for more advanced applications of automated guided vehicles in flexible manufacturing systems, the current employment of these vehicles in material handling generally subscribes to a simple mode of operation : single-load-carrying capacity for each vehicle and unidirectional traffic on each route of the system. Through a simulation programme, this study investigates the effect of several key factors related to the automated guided vehicles on the overall performance of a flexible manufacturing system. These are the number of pallets allowed in the system, the number of vehicles used and the carrying capacity of each and the input and output queue capacities of the machining stations; finally bidirectional traffic is allowed in some routes. The results show that there is a strong interaction among these factors and reveal their combined effects on the throughput from a small flexible manufacturing system. Upon the user's request, the simulation program also provides the animated colour graphics of the system to view developments concurrently under the selected decision values through time.     

基于有限元分析的洗衣机跌落冲击仿真及改进设计

基于有限元理论实现某型全自动洗衣机在跌落冲击载荷下的仿真分析和设计改进.首先运用CAD软件Unigraphics(UG)建立洗衣机运输包装件的初始设计模型,然后将实体模型导入有限元软件Abaqus建立有限元网格模型并进行跌落仿真分析.分析结果表明跌落过程中箱体部件会发生起皱变形缺陷,仿真预测结果与试验结果吻合良好.针对当前设计中存在的问题,对洗衣机进行了局部改进设计和重新分析验证.改进设计后的洗衣机整机强度得到了有效增强,满足了跌落试验要求.这种"基于仿真的设计方法"为家电产品开发提供了一种新的有效手段.     

Agile manufacturing system control based on cell re-configuration

The control of an agile manufacturing system (AMS) is expected to be flexible, open, scalable and re-configurable so as to tackle the more complex and uncertain information flows. To meet these requirements, we propose agent-based control architecture for AMS, under which the functions of task planning, scheduling and dynamic control are integrated seamlessly. First of all, this paper introduces the concept of RMC (re-configurable manufacturing cell), based on which, we construct the control architecture for AMS in compliance with multi-agent system (MAS). The whole control process under the architecture comprises two hierarchies, i.e. the upper one for order planning and RMC forming and the lower one for task scheduling within each RMC. For the upper hierarchy, we establish a linear integer programming (LIP)-based mathematical model and a MAS-based dynamic process model, and present a two-step approach to order planning and RMC forming. For the lower hierarchy, we develop the scheduling model, a method based on the bidding mechanism from contract net, and describe the rescheduling mechanism in the control system. To illustrate the methodology proposed in the paper, a simulation study is thoroughly discussed. Our studies demonstrate that the RMC-based control architecture provides an AMS with an optimal, dynamic and flexible mechanism of responding to an unpredictable manufacturing environment, which is crucial to achieve agility for the whole manufacturing system.     

Optimal manufacturing policy in a reverse logistic system with dependent stochastic returns and limited capacities

The stochastic models of systems with reverse logistics usually assume that the quantity of products returned is independent of sales. This hypothesis is obviously not true and can lead to suboptimal production policies. In this paper a new sales-dependent returns model is described. In this model, the returns depend on the useful life of the products sold and on the probability of an end-of-life product being returned. A Markov decision problem is formulated in order to obtain the optimal manufacturing policy. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the use of the defined model. An approximated Markov decision model is defined where the optimal policy is easily obtained. The optimal policies of the original and the approximated models are compared.