Abstract
In automated production systems like flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs), an important issue is to find an adequate workload for each machine for each time period. Many integer linear programming (ILP) models have been proposed to solve the FMS loading problems, but not all of them take tools into account. Those that do not consider tooling are quite unrealistic, especially when setup times are important with respect to processing times. When tool loading has to be handled by the model, the load assignment may have to be changed completely.
In this article we consider FMSs with a tool management of the following type: the system works in time periods whose durations are fixed or not; and tools are loaded on the machines at the beginning of each time period and stay there for the whole time period. Tool changes may occur only at the end of each time period when the system is stopped.
We present some integer programming models for handling these situations with several types of objectives. Emphasis is laid on the ILP formulations. Computational complexities are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BastosJ.M., “Batching and Routing: Two Functions in the Operational Planning of Flexible Manufacturing Systems,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 33, pp. 230–244 (1988).
Berrada, M., Prise en compte des outils dans la gestion de production des ateliers flexibles, Ecole Nationale Supéricure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, Thèse no. 84, Toulouse, France (1984).
BerradaM., and SteckeK.E., “A Branch and Bound Approach for Machine Load Balancing in Flexible Manufacturing Systems,” Management Science, Vol. 32, No. 10, pp. 1316–1335 (October 1986).
Bottazzi, C., “Tools Integrated Management,” in Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Turin, Italy, pp. 177–188 (November 4–6, 1987).
EscuderoL.F., “A Production Planning Problem in FMS,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 17, pp. 69–104 (1989).
GloverF., “Tabu Search,” ORSA Journal on Computing, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 190–206 (Summer 1989).
HansenP., and JaumardB., “Algorithms for the Maximum Satisfiability Problem,” RUTCOR Research Report 43–87, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. (1987).
Hertz, A., and de Werra, D., “The Tabu Search Metaheuristic: How We Used It,” Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (in press).
LawlerE.L., and LabetoulleJ., “On Preemptive Scheduling of Unrelated Parallel Processors by Linear Programming,” Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery, Vol. 25, pp. 612–619 (1978).
Perera, D.T.S., and Carrie, A.S., “Simulation of Tool Flow with a Flexible Manufacturing System,” in Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Turin, Italy, pp. 211–222 (November 4–6, 1987).
SolbergJ.J., “The Research Agenda for Future Factories,” Purdue University, School of Industrial Engineering, West Lafayette, Indiana (1985).
SteckeK.E., “Formulation and Solution of Nonlinear Integer Production Planning Problems for Flexible Manufacturing Systems,” Management Science, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 273–288 (March 1983).
SteckeK.E., “A Hierarchical Approach to Solving Machine Grouping and Loading Problems of Flexible Manufacturing Systems,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 24, pp. 369–378 (1986).
SteckeK.E., and KimI., “A Flexible Approach to Implementing the Short-Term FMS Planning Function,” in K.E.Stecke and R.Suri (Eds.), Proceeding of the Second ORSA/TIMS Conference on Flexible Manufacturing Systems: Operations Research Models and Applications, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 283–295, Science Publishers BV, August (1986).
SteckeK.E., and KimI., “A Study of FMS Part Type Selection Approaches for Short-Term Production Planning,” International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 7–29 September (1988).
TangC.S., and DenardoE.V., “Models Arising from a Flexible Manufacturing Machine: Part I: Minimization of the Number of Tool Switches. Part II: Minimization of the Number of Switching Instants,” Operations Research, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 767–784 (September–October 1988).
VinodB., and SabbaghM., “Optimal Performance Analysis of Manufacturing Systems Subject to Tool Availability,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 24, pp. 398–409 (1986).
deWerraD., “Design and Operation of Flexible Manufacturing Systems: The Kingdom of Heuristic Methods,” RAIRO Operations Research, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 365–382 (November 1987).
de Werra, D., “Almost Nonpreemptive Schedules,” in M. Queyranne (Ed.), Annals of Operations Research: Production Planning and Scheduling (1990).
WidmerM., and HertzA., “A New Heuristic Method for the Flow Shop Sequencing Problem,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 41, pp. 186–193 (1989).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Werra, D., Widmer, M. Loading problems with tool management in flexible manufacturing systems: A few integer programming models. Int J Flex Manuf Syst 3, 71–82 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00167526
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00167526