A study on the machine loading problem considering machine-breakdown in flexible manufacturing systems

Authors:
Seong Yong Jang;Doosuk Kim;Roger Kerr
Affiliations:
Department of Industrial and Information System Eng., Seoul National University of Technology, Korea;School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Eng., in Uni. of New South Wales, Australia;School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Eng., in Uni. of New South Wales, Australia
Venue:
AsiaSim'04 Proceedings of the Third Asian simulation conference on Systems Modeling and Simulation: theory and applications
Year:
2004

Citing 3
Cited 0

A branch and bound approach for machine load balancing in flexible manufacturing systems

Management Science
On the stability of the travelling salesman problem algorithm of Hopfield and Tank

Biological Cybernetics
Simulation with Arena

Simulation with Arena

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

In this paper, the machine loading problem (MLP) as an example of combinatorial problems is presented within a Flexible Manufacturing Cell (FMC) environment. In general, MLP can be modeled as a general assignment problem and hence formulated as 0-1 mixed integer programming problem which have been effectively solved by a variety of heuristics methodologies. Recently, Neural Networks have been applied to various problems with a view of optimization. Especially, Hopfield Networks to solve MLP having objective of balancing workload of machines is discussed in this paper. While heuristic methods may take a long time to obtain the solutions when the size of problems is increased, Hopfield Networks are able to find the optimal or near-optimal solutions quickly through massive and parallel computation. By such capabilities of Hopfield Networks, it is also possible to approach real-time optimization problems. The focus in this paper is on the quality of solutions of Hopfield Networks by means of comparison with other heuristic methods through simulation, considering machine-breakdown. The simulation results show that the productivity of parts is highly improved and that utilization of each machines is equalized by achieving a balanced workload on machines.