Machine layout problem in flexible manufacturing systems
Operations Research
On Throughput Maximization in Constant Travel-Time Robotic Cells
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Scheduling Multiple Parts in a Robotic Cell Served by a Dual-Gripper Robot
Operations Research
Complexity of one-cycle robotic flow-shops
Journal of Scheduling
Ant Colony Optimisation for Machine Layout Problems
Computational Optimization and Applications
Optimal Cyclic Multi-Hoist Scheduling: A Mixed Integer Programming Approach
Operations Research
Sequencing and Scheduling in Robotic Cells: Recent Developments
Journal of Scheduling
Fuzzy decision support system for manufacturing facilities layout planning
Decision Support Systems
Identical part production in cyclic robotic cells: Concepts, overview and open questions
Discrete Applied Mathematics
Multiple Part-Type Production in Robotic Cells: Equivalence of Two Real-World Models
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
A complete cellular manufacturing system design methodology based on axiomatic design principles
Computers and Industrial Engineering - Special issue: Selected papers from the 30th international conference on computers; industrial engineering
Cycles and permutations in robotic cells
Mathematical and Computer Modelling: An International Journal
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Although the impact of layout on the productivity of manufacturing systems is well recognized, a quantification of this impact is an issue that is often ignored or crudely approximated in practice. When evaluating competing layouts for a manufacturing system, the trade-off between their relative benefits and their relative costs underlines the need for a reasonably accurate comparison of the productivity offered by these potential layouts. In this paper, we argue for this approach by comparing the productivity of two well-known layouts in robotic-cell manufacturing: circular and linear. We consider the problem of optimizing throughput in single-gripper, bufferless robotic cells that produce identical parts under the free-pickup criterion and the additive-travel-time metric. For cells with a circular layout, we show that the problem of finding an optimal 1-unit cycle is NP-hard. Our main algorithmic result is a polynomial-time 5/3-approximation algorithm for this problem. We then demonstrate that our algorithm provides near-optimal solutions by compiling its performance on an extensive test bed of practically-relevant instances. Finally, we use the algorithm to assess the increase in throughput for cells with a circular layout over those with a linear layout. We show that a circular layout offers a significant improvement in productivity and demonstrate the robustness of this improvement by examining the sensitivity with respect to changes in the design parameters of the robotic cell. Thus, our work provides operations managers with a tool to trade off the resulting increase in revenue with the additional cost of acquiring and maintaining a robot that can exploit a circular layout.