Rule-based production planning in flexible manufacturing systems

Production planning in flexible manufacturing may require the solution of a large-scale discrete-event dynamic stochastic optimization problem, due to the complexity of the system to be optimized, and to the occurrence of discrete events (new orders and hard failures). The production planning problem is here approached for a multistage multipart-type manufacturing shop, where each work cell can share its processing time among the different types of parts. The solution of this problem is obtained by an open-loop-feedback control strategy, updated each time a new event occurs. At each event time, two coupled problems are solved: 1) a product-order scheduling problem, conditioned on estimated values of the production capacities of all component work cells; and 2) a production-capacity planning problem, conditioned on predefined sequences of the product orders to be processed. In particular, the article aims at defining a production planning procedure that integrates both analytical tools, derived from mathematical programming, and knowledge-based rules, coming from experience. The objective is to formulate a hybrid (knowledge-based/analytical) planning architecture, and to analyze its use for multicell multipart-type manufacturing systems.     

Dynamic production planning model: a dynamic programming approach

Production planning is one of the most important issues in manufacturing. The nature of this problem is complex and therefore researchers have studied it under several and different assumptions. In this paper, applied production planning problem is studied in a general manner and it is assumed that there exists an optimal control problem that its production planning strategy is a digital controller and must be optimized. Since this is a random problem because of stochastic values of sales in future, it is modeled as a stochastic dynamic programming and then it is transformed to a linear programming model using successive approximations. Then, it is proved that these two models are equivalent. The main objective of the proposed model is achieving optimal decisions using forecasting sales which can be applied in master production schedule, manufacturing resource planning, capacity requirements planning, and job shop/shop floor scheduling.     

敏捷制造环境中车间的随机生产计划方法

研究了敏感制造环境下柔性自动化车间的髹机生产计划方法。     

Multiple-Objective Scheduling for the Hierarchical Control of Flexible Manufacturing Systems

This paper presents a hierarchical approach to scheduling flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) that pursues multiple performance objectives and considers the process flexibility of incorporating alternative process plans and resources for the required operations. The scheduling problem is solved at two levels: the shop level and the manufacturing system level. The shop level controller employs a combined priority index developed in this research to rank shop production orders in meeting multiple scheduling objectives. To overcome dimensional complexity and keep a low level of work-in-process inventory, the shop controller first selects up to three production orders with the highest ranking as candidates and generates all possible release sequences for them, with or without multitasking. These sequences are conveyed to the manufacturing system controller, who then performs detailed scheduling of the machines in the FMS using a fixed priority heuristic for routing parts of multiple types while considering alternative process plans and resources for the operations. The FMS controller provides feedback to the shop controller with a set of suggested detailed schedules and projected order completion times. On receiving these results, the shop controller further evaluates each candidate schedule using a multiple-objective function and selects the best schedule for execution. This allows multiple performance objectives of an FMS to be achieved by the integrated hierarchical scheduling approach.     

Robust-optimal active vibration controllers design for the uncertain flexible mechanical systems possessing integrity via genetic algorithm

In this paper, a robust-optimal control approach is proposed to treat the active vibration control (or active vibration suppression) problem of flexible mechanical systems under mode truncation, linear time-varying parameter uncertainties in both the controlled and residual parts, feedback gain perturbations, estimator gain perturbations and partial actuator failures. A sufficient condition is proposed to ensure that the flexible mechanical systems with time-varying structured parameter uncertainties are asymptotically stable against partial actuator failures. Systems which have such a property of keeping stable under partial actuator failures are said to possess integrity, and this is an inherent property of MIMO systems. Based on the robust stability constraint and the minimization of a defined H₂ performance, a hybrid Taguchi-genetic algorithm (HTGA) is applied to solve the optimal state feedback controller and observer design problem of uncertain flexible mechanical systems. A design example of a flexible rotor system is given to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. It is shown that the proposed approach can obtain satisfactory results.     

Production activity control: A practical approach to scheduling

There is a widely perceived gap within the domain of scheduling for manufacturing systems, namely, many of the methods employed by production supervisors are quite different from those developed by researchers. In a sense, this inconsistency highlights the important fact that much scheduling research has failed to win approval where it matters most, namely, within the manufacturing system.In this article, we argue for a practical approach to scheduling for manufacturing systems, one that we believe can narrow, and possibly bridge, the gap between theory and practice. This approach is based upon a well-defined and modular architecture for scheduling, termedproduction activity control. This architecture is the foundation of our proposed solution to scheduling, since it provides a coherent blueprint for the synthesis of information technology and scheduling strategies. The result of this synthesis is a design tool for production activity control, which allows for detailed and disciplined experimentation with a range of scheduling strategies in a controlled and simulated environment. Due to the unique modular property of the design tool, these strategies may then be implemented live in a flexible manufacturing facility, hence narrowing the gap between scheduling theory and manufacturing practice. Our overall approach is tested through an appropriate implementation in a modern electronics assembly plant.     

Control theoretic model using PID controller for just-in-time production scheduling

Today, manufacturing companies are under the pressure to reduce the variations in product delivery to customers with minimized manufacturing costs. In this circumstance, the job completions are required to be as close to due dates, which can be the objective of just-in-time (JIT) production. Thus, this paper proposes an innovative approach using a feedback controller for JIT production scheduling. Specifically, a feedback control system using proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controller is designed to control the trajectory of arrival times in a single machine configuration, based on which various schedules are generated. Importantly, control system gains (proportional, integral, and derivative) are synthesized to generate an optimal or close to the optimal schedule in terms of due-date deviations and system stability. More specifically, control system gains are trained using the problem sets with known optimal schedules, and these trained gains are tested. It is expected that the proposed PID controller can be effectively applied for scheduling and rescheduling under various disturbances that cause destabilization of the system.     

Solving a multi-objective overlapping flow-shop scheduling

In flow-shop manufacturing scheduling systems, managers attempt to minimize makespan and manufacturing costs. Job overlaps are typically unavoidable in real-life applications as overlapping production shortens operation throughput times and reduces work-in-process inventories. This study presents an ant colony optimization (ACO) heuristic for establishing a simple and effective mechanism to solve the overlap manufacturing scheduling problem with various ready times and a sequentially dependent setup time. In the proposed approach, the scheduling mechanism and ACO heuristics are developed separately, thereby improving the performance of overlapping manufacturing flow by varying parameters or settings within the ACO heuristics and allowing for flexible application of manufacturing by altering scheduling criteria. Finally, the experimental results of the scheduling problem demonstrate that the ACO heuristics have good performance when searching for answers.     

Makespan minimization for m-machine permutation flowshop scheduling problem with learning considerations

Increased complexity of current manufacturing systems together with dynamic conditions and permanent demands for flexible and robust functionality makes their management and control very difficult and challenging. Workflow simulation is an effective approach to investigate dynamic workflow scheduling policies and evaluate the overall manufacturing system performance. The results attained in simulation model can give directions on how to maximize system output when selecting an appropriate scheduling practice for a real system. In this paper, we investigate the abilities of multi-agent systems in combination with dynamic dispatching rules and failure handling mechanisms to manage dynamic environment conditions (such as machine failures) for systems in the production automation domain. We measure system robustness by systematically assessing the total system performance (e.g., number of finished products) in a number of representative test cases. We use an agent-based simulation environment, MAST, which has been validated with real-world hardware to strengthen the external validity of the simulation results. We investigated the performance of a re-scheduling component which uses four different policies that define how to adjust the system schedule in case of machine disturbances/failures. In the context of the empirical study the Complete Rerouting re-scheduling policy outperformed all other policies.     

Scheduling optimisation of flexible manufacturing systems using particle swarm optimisation algorithm

The increased use of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) to efficiently provide customers with diversified products has created a significant set of operational challenges. Although extensive research has been conducted on design and operational problems of automated manufacturing systems, many problems remain unsolved. In particular, the scheduling task, the control problem during the operation, is of importance owing to the dynamic nature of the FMS such as flexible parts, tools and automated guided vehicle (AGV) routings. The FMS scheduling problem has been tackled by various traditional optimisation techniques. While these methods can give an optimal solution to small-scale problems, they are often inefficient when applied to larger-scale problems. In this work, different scheduling mechanisms are designed to generate optimum scheduling; these include non-traditional approaches such as genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, memetic algorithm (MA) and particle swarm algorithm (PSA) by considering multiple objectives, i.e., minimising the idle time of the machine and minimising the total penalty cost for not meeting the deadline concurrently. The memetic algorithm presented here is essentially a genetic algorithm with an element of simulated annealing. The results of the different optimisation algorithms (memetic algorithm, genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, and particle swarm algorithm) are compared and conclusions are presented .     

Evolutionary optimisation of hedging points for unreliable manufacturing systems

The production rates of manufacturing systems are notoriously difficult to control, since such systems are dynamic, uncertain and non-linear. However, the introduction of hedging-point policies for such systems has led to much progress in optimal production control. But the theoretical results so far obtained for such hedging-point policies are still far from complete, since the optimal hedging points (i.e., the optimal inventory levels) are analytically available only for simple systems and under restrictive assumptions. In this paper, an evolutionary stochastic optimisation procedure is proposed to estimate the short-run optimal hedging points for failure-prone manufacturing systems under crisp-logic control. This methodology is illustrated by examples and is validated by comparing the evolutionary results with the available analytical long-run solutions. The proposed evolutionary methodology is also shown to be capable of generating optimal hedging points for unreliable systems producing multiple products with different priorities. In addition, the relative merits of genetic algorithms, evolution strategies and adaptive evolution strategies in hedging-point optimisation are compared.     

柔性自动化车间的最优随机生产计划

研究了由多个柔性制造系统组成的柔性自动化车间的最优随机生产计划问题,首先根据实际需要建立车间生产计划的随机非线性规划模型,为求解方便,将其近似转化成确定非线性规划模型,并通过引进约束进一步转化成线性规划模型。由于这种模型规模较大,很难在微机上用单纯形法在可接受的时间内获得其最优解。为此,分别用卡马卡算法和基于卡马卡算法的关联预测法,求解柔性自动化车间最优生产计划问题,并编制了相应软件。最后通过算例研究,比较了卡马卡算法、基于卡马卡算法的关联预测法和Matlab中的线性规划法,结果表明,所提方法非常适合将不确定性环境中的随机产品需求计划,最优分解成由柔性自动化车间中各柔性制造系统执行的短期随机计划。     

A flexible artificial neural network–fuzzy simulation algorithm for scheduling a flow shop with multiple processors

One of the most popular approaches for scheduling manufacturing systems is dispatching rules. Different types of dispatching rules exist, but none of them is known to be globally the best. A flexible artificial neural network–fuzzy simulation (FANN–FS) algorithm is presented in this study for solving the multiattribute combinatorial dispatching (MACD) decision problem. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are one of the commonly used metaheuristics and are a proven tool for solving complex optimization problems. Hence, multilayered neural network metamodels and a fuzzy simulation using the α-cuts method were trained to provide a complex MACD problem. Fuzzy simulation is used to solve complex optimization problems to deal with imprecision and uncertainty. The proposed flexible algorithm is capable of modeling nonlinear, stochastic, and uncertain problems. It uses ANN simulation for crisp input data and fuzzy simulation for imprecise and uncertain input data. The solution quality is illustrated by two case studies from a multilayer ceramic capacitor manufacturing plant. The manufacturing lead times produced by the FANN–FS model turned out to be superior to conventional simulation models. This is the first study that introduces an intelligent and flexible approach for handling imprecision and nonlinearity of scheduling problems in flow shops with multiple processors.     

Enhancement of an efficient control policy for FMSs using the theory of regions and selective siphon method

Deadlocks are an important problem in resource allocation systems such as flexible manufacturing systems. The theory of regions and the siphon-based method are usually used in the most deadlock prevention policies. The theory of regions that can obtain a maximally permissive controller is usually considered to be a natural solution with seasonable computational cost for flexible manufacturing systems. The selective siphon method allows one to use fewer control places than the conventional one. This paper employs both methods above. The former can identify the set of curial marking/transition–separation instance; the latter can reduce the computational cost. We can infer that the novel policy is the most efficient policy than the traditional methods, and also, the maximal permissive behavior of Petri net models can still be obtained.     

工件加工随机调度中优先约束问题的研究

讨论工件加工时间为任意随机分布的随机变量的单机随机调度问题,设工件间的约束为树优先约束,目标函数为极小化加权完工时间和的数学期望.这一模型在机械设计与制造行业中的多个元器组件加工,以及钢铁板坯轧制等众多实际生产制造领域中都具有广泛的应用背景.证明了工件加工时间为任意随机分布的随机变量的情况下,最大家庭树中的工件优先于家庭树中其它的工件加工,并且其工件连续加工所得到的调度为最优调度,给出了最优多项式算法,该算法可以被推广应用于实际的生产中,具有较强的实际应用性.     

An integrated control framework for flexible manufacturing systems

This paper presents the design, development, and implementation of an integrated control framework that provides a real-time supervisory control model with limited look-ahead capability for flexible manufacturing systems. Control goals and policies are modeled and characterized by a fuzzy rule base, which is integrated with the control model. The framework consists of a finite state machine generator and a controller. The generator model is equipped with an output function and output sets. The controller model has a four-stage decision-making structure. The controller monitors performance measures of the manufacturing system and reacts according to the changes in the system states in order to keep the performance measures at desired levels. The integrated framework has been implemented on a software platform in order to validate its effectiveness. The performance of the framework has been tested on a hypothetical flexible manufacturing system using a simulation .     

Impact of ramp-up on the optimal capacity-related reconfiguration policy

This paper presents an optimal solution, based on Markov decision theory, for the problem of optimal capacity-related reconfiguration of manufacturing systems, under stochastic market demand. Both capacity expansion and reduction are considered. The solution quantitatively takes into account the effect of the ramp-up phenomenon, following each reconfiguration, on the optimal policy. A closed-form solution is presented for when product demand is independently and generally distributed over time. A real case concerning a flexible manufacturing line in the automotive sector is shown, to prove that ignoring the ramp-up effect in the decision process can lead to significant increases in overall costs.

Integrating Flexible Process Plans with Scheduling in Flexible Manufacturing Systems

This paper highlights the importance of integration between process planning and scheduling in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). An effective integration increases the potential for enhanced system performance and enhanced decision making A framework that integrates flexible process plans with off-line (predictive) scheduling in FMS is presented. The flexibility in process planning, including process flexibility, sequence flexibility, and alternative machine tools, is discussed. The proposed framework consists of four integrated stages with the objective of reducing the completion time. The integrated stages include: 1. Machine tool selection. 2. Process plan selection. 3. Scheduling. 4. Re-scheduling modules. In addition, the paper proposes a new approach, namely the Dissimilarity Maximisation Method (DMM), for selecting the appropriate process plans for a part mix where parts have alternative process plans. The recursive structure of the framework provides a different approach, namely overlapping schedules, which considers a longer scheduling period as comprising several short scheduling periods. Knowing that neither the process plans nor the planned (predicted) schedules are truly followed on the shop floor, the related literature and the corresponding approaches are compared in order to envisage new approaches for closing the gap between process planning and scheduling.     

基于PetriNets和混合遗传算法的双资源JSP动态优化调度

以带有控制器的Petri网为建模工具对柔性生产调度中的离散事件建模,利用遗传算法和模拟退火算法获得调度结果,并通过Petri网进行控制.用于解决作业车间的加工受到机床、操作工人等生产资源制约条件下的优化调度.以生产周期为目标进行的优化调度,将遗传算法和模拟退火相结合.通过多种交叉、变异、概率更新选择、再分配策略等遗传和模拟操作,得到目标的最优或次优解.对算法进行了仿真研究,仿真结果表明该算法是有效性.