A heuristic based on multi-stage programming approach for machine-loading problem in a flexible manufacturing system

Manufacturing industries are rapidly changing from economies of scale to economies of scope, characterized by short product life cycles and increased product varieties. This implies a need to improve the efficiency of job shops while still maintaining their flexibility. These objectives are achieved by Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). The basic aim of FMS is to bring together the productivity of flow lines and the flexibility of job shops. This duality of objectives makes the management of an FMS complex. In this article, the loading problem in random type FMS, which is viewed as selecting a subset of jobs from the job pool and allocating them among available machines, is considered. A heuristic based on multi-stage programming approach is proposed to solve this problem. The objective considered is to minimize the system unbalance while satisfying the technological constraints such as availability of machining time and tool slots. The performance of the proposed heuristic is tested on 10 sample problems available in FMS literature and compared with existing solution methods. It has been found that the proposed heuristic gives good results.     

基于COM技术的物流系统的建模与仿真方法

针对宝钢炼钢连铸物流系统，采用分层有色ｐｅｔｒｉ网进行建模，并提出一种基于ＣＯＭ技术的仿真程序设计方法，模块化和层次的概念为通用的物流仿真提供了清晰、灵活的设计思想。该文的建模仿真方法同样适用于其他物流系统以及柔性制造系统。     

Heterarchical production control in manufacturing systems using the potential fields concept

This article deals with the potential field concept and its application to dynamic task allocation and dynamic routing controls of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). This potential field approach requires increasing the interaction capabilities of the different entities, not only resources but also products themselves. In this approach, products request services from resources, sensing the fields emitted by resources and selecting the field that best satisfies the service request. Many already published approaches that are capable of modelling systems based on the interactions between the entities in manufacturing systems are presented. Then, the potential field concept and its application to FMS control are explained in detail. Next, a potential field model and its application are proposed in the real-time heterarchical control of dynamic resource allocation and dynamic product routing. Using a NetLogo simulation, the potential field model supports hard assumptions, such as dynamic transportation times, limited storage capacities and breakdown events. To validate this model, an ongoing real implementation is presented with the AIP-PRIMECA FMS.     

Network model and effective evolutionary approach for AGV dispatching in manufacturing system

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs), are the state-of-the-art, and are often used to facilitate automatic storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS). In this paper, we focus on the dispatching of AGVs in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). A FMS environment requires a flexible and adaptable material handling system. We model an AGV system by using network structure. This network model of an AGV dispatching has simplexes decision variables with considering most AGV problem’s constraints, for example capacity of AGVs, precedence constraints among the processes, deadlock control. Furthermore, these problems can be solved by using a lot of heuristic algorithms as network optimization problems. We are also proposed an effective evolutionary approach for solving a kind of AGV’s problems in which minimizing time required to complete all jobs (i.e. makespan) and minimizing the number of AGVs, simultaneously. For applying an evolutionary approach for this multicriteria case of AGV problem, priority-based encoding method and Interactive Adaptive-weight GA (i-awGA) were proposed. Numerical analyses for case study show the effectiveness of proposed approach. Received: June 2005 / Accepted: December 2005     

An object-oriented model for FMS control

The flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is a distributed network of heterogeneous programmable manufacturing machinery, such as assembly lines and numerically controlled machines. Despite these interconnected, programmable hardware elements, the success of building a truly flexible manufacturing system has been limited so far, owing to the lack of flexibility in its control software layer. In integrating heterogeneous machinery, many existing FMS control software systems depend structurally on specific machinery and job-scheduling strategies, and thus it is difficult to incorporate new developments in FMS organization and operational requirements. In searching for an open architecture for the FMS control software system, this paper presents an object-oriented FMS data model. Among others, it represents each physical cluster of related machinery (called a flexible manufacturing cell) as an object. To facilitate the integration of heterogeneous physical cells, such cell objects share a common protocol of interacting with the main control process through inheritance from the abstract cell class. Other related physical and abstract entities in FMS are also modelled as objects, with their similarity and difference captured in inheritance hierarchies. To verify the proposed approach experimentally, a prototype FMS control software system named FREE (FMS Runtime Executive Environment) has been implemented on top of a commercial object-oriented database system.     

Agent-based FMS control

Future manufacturing systems will be integrated into the networks of distributed resources, and at the same time, such systems will be capable of processing both knowledge and material. It will probably be required that manufacturing systems be agile, flexible, and fault-tolerant. Petri nets (PN) and object-oriented design (OOD) are used together in order to develop the integrated agent-based FMS control system. The flexible manufacturing system (FMS) consists of machines, workstations, and automated material handling system, distributed buffer storage sites and computer-based supervisory control, all which can be modeled as an agent in OOD with PN. This paper introduces the design of an agent-based FMS control system through PNs and evaluates the performance using timed placed Petri nets (TPPN). In order to do so, the agent control design, FMS structure has been evaluated in detail and the agent definitions have been submitted. The system includes the sharing and distribution of tasks among agents and the mentioned structure has been simulated by TPPN. The simulation procedure has been realized through Petri Net 2.0—MATLAB Demo Program [Mahulea CF, Motcovschi MH, Pastravanu O. Department of Automatic Control Industrial Informatics, Technical University “Gh. Asachi” of Iasi, Blvd., Mangeron 53A, 6600 Iasi, Romania, 〈http://www.ac.tuiasi.ro/pntool,pntool@ac.tuiasi.ro〉, 2004.]. Each case is modeled, and then the agent's machine processing time is considered in this program. As for the evaluation of the study, the system performance is assessed through the waiting time of the parts in queue and the task distributions.     

一个多功能的仿真软件

柔性制造系统是一种自动化的中小批量生产系统,它具有一系列优于传统制造系统的优点,如产品质量高、在制品库存少、记备利用率高等,特别是它对市场变化能产生快速响应。但是,建造这类系统的起始投资巨大、系统在实现时存在许多不可预见的风险,因此,采用仿真技术,对柔性制造系统进行开发、设计及性能评价等,近年来受到很大关注。本文介绍的多功能仿真软件,可以用来研究和分析柔性制造系统的行为、评价系统性能、或提供一个动态调度计划、或最优控制调度策略等。此外,该软件对所研究的一类柔性制造系统可实现自动建模。     

Simulation-based methodology for machine cell design

This paper presents a simulation-based methodology which uses both design and manufacturing attributes to form manufacturing cells. The methodology is implemented in three phases. In phase I, parts are grouped into part families based on their design and manufacturing dissimilarities. In phase II, machines are grouped into manufacturing cells based on relevant operational costs and various cells are assigned part families using an optimization technique. Phases I and II are based on integer and mixed-integer mathematical models. Finally, in phase III, a simulation model of the proposed system is built and verified, and the model is run so that data on the proposed system may be gathered and evaluated. The mathematical and simulation models are used to solve a sample production problem. The results from these models are compared, and can be used to justify the final design. By the use of these modeling tools, cellular manufacturing systems can be designed, analyzed, optimized, and finally justified.     

Expert systems: An application in flexible manufacturing

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are needed to provide manufacturing operations with the capability to adjust, in real time, to changes in the manufacturing environment. Realization of the goals of flexible manufacturing is governed by the ability of the FMS to maintain adequate information on the factory to assist in generating scenarios from product planning to operations and performance. This leads to a view where the factory is represented as an integrated information system. To facilitate the analysis of information requirements and the design of information systems for flexible manufacturing, an expert support system (ESS) which can be used to model and study the various structures is described. This ESS uses the information cell model to build these information structures. Petri net representations of these structures and their interactions are then constructed. The ESS may now be used to exercise these models and study their performance using time and cost measures.     

iCoSim-FMS: An intelligent co-simulator for the adaptive control of complex flexible manufacturing systems

We describe an intelligent co-simulator for real time production control of a complex flexible manufacturing system (CFMS) having machine and tool flexibility. The manufacturing processes associated with the CFMS are complicated with each operation being possibly done by several machining centers. The co-simulator design approach is built upon the theory of dynamic meta-model based supervisory control with the cooperation of its own embedded intelligent blocks. The system is implemented by coupling of the centralized simulation controller (CSC) and real-time simulator for enforcing dynamic strategies of shop floor control. The posteriori adaptive co-simulator is equipped with a concurrent bilateral mechanism for simulation optimization based on appropriate control rules enhancing performance criteria simulation efficiency. A working intelligent adaptive controller prototype (iCoSim-FMS) has been developed to validate the proposed approach and compare its performance with well known FMS heuristic methods.     

Establishing information requirements for supervisory controllers in a flexible manufacturing system using GTA

In this article we consider the technological change that has occurred in complex manufacturing systems within the past two decades and the implications it has had on the role of human operators in manufacturing systems control. Our examination ranges from the traditional production line manned by skilled machinists to flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) under supervisory control. On the basis of this study, we raise the question as to whether new advanced manufacturing technology interfaces are supportive of human operators in their responsibilities to manufacturing systems. We address this problem by analyzing supervisory controller information requirements for intervening in complex process control tasks as part of FMS operation. This analysis was conducted using a cognitive engineering research methodology, which has not previously been applied, in the domain of manufacturing. The method of GTA was applied to supervisory control of an FMS and produced detailed information requirements, which facilitated the formulation of general design guidelines for FMS interface design. The guidelines are aimed at supporting human operator process strategy development and decision making. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Object-oriented software modeling of a Flexible Manufacturing System

Flexible Manufacturing Systems play an important role in improving our manufacturing productivity. Simulation is emerging as a popular tool in modeling FMS for analyzing its performance in the area of production planning/scheduling. In this paper, we illustrate how to model a Flexible Manufacturing System in the object-oriented paradigm using an example. We present a systemtic approach to the design of object-oriented programming systems based on a combination of data modeling and event analysis techniques.An entity relationship approach is used as the basis for an initial decomposition of the system into objects. The design is refined by an analysis of the events the objects participate in. The design is implemented in Objective-C. Finally, we describe ways in which this model of an FMS can be extended to explore popular research questions in production planning and scheduling.     

Modeling and online scheduling of flexible manufacturing systemsusing stochastic Petri nets

The authors discuss the modeling of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) under uncertainty and evaluate a rule base for online scheduling. To represent uncertain events in an FMS, such as failure of machine tools, repair time, and processing time, they develop continuous-time and discrete-time stochastic Petri nets with hierarchical structures for constructing the FMS model. For obtaining an efficient schedule for the FMS with an online real-time basis, they construct a rule base and evaluate its performance using the FMS simulation system proposed     

An Iterative Synthesis Approach to Petri Net-Based Deadlock Prevention Policy for Flexible Manufacturing Systems

This paper proposes an iterative synthesis approach to Petri net (PN)-based deadlock prevention policy for flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Given the PN model (PNM) of an FMS prone to deadlock, the goal is to synthesize a live controlled PNM. Its use for FMS control guarantees its deadlock-free operation and high performance in terms of resource utilization and system throughput. The proposed method is an iterative approach. At each iteration, a first-met bad marking is singled out from the reachability graph of a given PNM. The objective is to prevent this marking from being reached via a place invariant of the PN. A well-established invariant-based control method is used to derive a control place. This process is carried out until the net model becomes live. The proposed method is generally applicable, easy to use, effective, and straightforward although its off-line computation is of exponential complexity. Two FMS are used to show its effectiveness and applicability     

Reactive control of overall power consumption in flexible manufacturing systems scheduling: A Potential Fields model

In recent years, designing “energy-aware manufacturing scheduling and control systems” has become more and more complex due to the increasing volatility and unpredictability of energy availability, supply and cost, and thus requires the integration of highly reactive behavior in control laws. The aim of this paper is to propose a Potential Fields-based flexible manufacturing control system that can dynamically allocate and route products to production resources to minimize the total production time. This control system simultaneously optimizes resource energy consumption by limiting energy wastage through the real-time control of resource states, and by dynamically controlling the overall power consumption taking the limited availability of energy into consideration. The Potential Fields-based control model was proposed in two stages. First, a mechanism was proposed to switch resources on/off reactively depending on the situation of the flexible manufacturing system (FMS) to reduce energy wastage. Second, while minimizing wastage, overall power consumption control was introduced in order to remain under a dynamically determined energy threshold. The effectiveness of the control model was studied in simulation with several scenarios for reducing energy wastage and controlling overall consumption. Experiments were then performed in a real FMS to prove the feasibility of the model. The superiority of the proposition is its high reactivity to manage production in real-time despite unexpected restrictions in the amount of energy available. After providing the limitations of the work, the conclusions and prospects are presented.     

Object-oriented design of FMS control software based on object modeling technique diagrams and Petri nets

Control software is very important to realizing the full benefits of flexible manufacturing systems. This paper highlights the difficulties in developing such software and proposes an object-oriented design (OOD) method using object modeling technique (OMT) diagrams and Petri nets (PNs). OOD is used to design reusable and easily maintainable software. OMT diagrams are used to represent explicitly different kinds of static relations, such as generalization, aggregation, and association, among the objects in an FMS. PNs are used to model the dynamic behavior of the objects and the entire FMS and to conduct performance analysis. The use of PNs also leads to a method to identify the data structures and operations of software objects. The proposed method is illustrated through an FMS example. Its capability to support reusability, extendibility, and modifiability of the resulting control software design is also demonstrated when the FMS specifications change.     

On near optimal neural control of multiple-input nonlinear systems

It has been a common consensus that general techniques for stabilization of nonlinear systems are available only for some special classes of nonlinear systems. Control design for nonlinear systems with uncertain components is usually carried out on a per system basis, especially when physical control constraints, and certain control performance measures such as optimum time control are imposed. Elegant adaptive control techniques are difficult to apply to this type of problems. A new neural network based control design is proposed and presented in this paper to deal with a special class of uncertain nonlinear systems with multiple inputs. The desired system dynamics are analyzed and utilized in the process of the proposed intelligent control design. The theoretical results are provided to justify the design procedures. The simulation study is conducted on a second-order bilinear system with two inputs and uncertainties on its parameters. The simulation results indicate that the proposed design approach is effective.     

A parametric fuzzy logic approach to dynamic part routing under full routing flexibility

Manufacturing flexibility is a competitive weapon for surviving today’s highly variable and volatile markets. It is critical therefore, to select the appropriate type of flexibility for a given manufacturing system, and to design effective strategies for using this flexibility in a way to improve the system performance. This study focuses on full routing flexibility which includes not only alternative machines for operations but also alternative sequences of operations for producing the same work piece. Upon completion of an operation, an on-line dispatching decision called part routing is required to choose one of the alternatives as the next step. This study introduces three new approaches, including a fuzzy logic approach, for dynamic part routing. The fuzzy part routing system adapts itself to the characteristics of a given flexible manufacturing system (FMS) installation by setting the key parameters of the membership functions as well as its Takagi-Sugeno type rule base, in such a way to capture the bottlenecks in the environment. Thus, the model does not require a search or training for the parameter set. The proposed approaches are tested against several crisp and fuzzy routing algorithms taken from the literature, by means of extensive simulation experiments in hypothetical FMS environments under variable system configurations. The results show that the proposed fuzzy approach remains robust across different system configurations and flexibility levels, and performs favourably compared to the other algorithms. The results also reveal important characteristic behaviour regarding routing flexibility.