Computers and Industrial Engineering
Generation of machine configurations based on product features
International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
A simulated annealing-based optimization approach for integrated process planning and scheduling
International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Integration of process planning and scheduling-A modified genetic algorithm-based approach
Computers and Operations Research
Computers and Operations Research
An active learning genetic algorithm for integrated process planning and scheduling
Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal
Enterprise information integration: people, automation, and complexity concerns
WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications
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In recent years, process planners have become interested in the development of dynamic process planning systems that can interface to scheduling systems providing alternative process plans to increase flexibility in scheduling. However, deciding how many alternatives are needed has not been addressed in any previous studies. This paper presents the results of a simulation-based study aimed at characterizing the benefit provided from having alternative plans available for use in scheduling. This benefit is quantified in terms of the overall performance of a job-shop manufacturing environment. The results of this study indicate that the advantage gained by increasing the number of alternative process plans diminishes rapidly. In fact, under some conditions for the particular system studied, increasing the number of alternatives actually resulted in degraded system performance. Based on these results developers of process planning systems and methodologies need to evaluate carefully the benefit of expending time and resources on the generation of alternative plans or optimal plans.