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An iterative approach to system setup problems in flexible manufacturing systems

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Abstract

System setup problems in flexible manufacturing systems deal with short-term planning problems such as part type selection, machine grouping, operation assignment, tooling, fixture and pallet allocation, and routing. In this article, we consider three of the subproblems: part type selection, machine grouping, and loading. We suggest a heuristic approach to solve the subproblems consistently with the objective of maximizing the expected production rate. The proposed procedure includes routines to generate all possible machine grouping alternatives for a given set of machines, to obtain optimal target workloads for each grouping alternative, and to allocate operations and tools to machine groups. These routines are executed iteratively until a good solution to the system setup problem is obtained. Computational experience is reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Cheongryang, P.O. Box 150, Seoul, Korea

    Yeong-Dae Kim

  2. Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, The University of Michigan, 48109-2117, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Candace Arai Yano

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  1. Yeong-Dae Kim
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  2. Candace Arai Yano
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Kim, YD., Yano, C.A. An iterative approach to system setup problems in flexible manufacturing systems. Int J Flex Manuf Syst 4, 183–209 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01313699

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