An Architecture of Computer Aided Process Planning System Integrated with Scheduling Using Decision Support System

Process planning and scheduling are two major plann in g and control activities that consume significant part of the lead-time, theref ore all attempts are being made to reduce lead-time by automating them. Compute r Aided Process Planning (CAPP) is a step in this direction. Most of the existin g CAPP systems do not consider scheduling while generating a process plan. Sched uling is done separately after the process plan has been generated and therefore , it is possible that a process plan so generated is either not optimal or feasi ble from scheduling point of view. As process plans are generated without consid eration of job shop status, many problems arise within the manufacturing environ ment. Investigations have shown that 20%～30% of all process plans generated are not valid and have to be altered or suffer production delays when production sta rts. There is thus a major need for integration of scheduling with computer aide d process planning for generating more realistic process plans. In doing so, eff iciency of the manufacturing system as a whole is expected to improve. Decision support system performs many functions such as selection of machine too ls, cutting tools, sequencing of operations, determination of optimum cutting pa rameters and checking availability of machine tool before allocating any operati on to a machine tool. The process of transforming component data, process capabi lity and decision rules into computer readable format is still a major obstacle. This paper proposes architecture of a system, which integrates computer aided p rocess-planning system with scheduling using decision support system. A decisio n support system can be defined as " an interactive system that provides the use rs with easy access to decision models in order to support semi-structured or u nstructured decision making tasks".

Mathematical Modeling and a Multiswarm Collaborative Optimization Algorithm for Fuzzy Integrated Process Planning and Scheduling Problem

Considering both process planning and shop scheduling in manufacturing can fully utilize their complementarities,resulting in improved rationality of process routes and high-quality and efficient production. Hence,the study of Integrated Process Planning and Scheduling (IPPS) has become a hot topic in the current production field. However,when performing this integrated optimization,the uncertainty of processing time is a realistic key point that cannot be neglected. Thus,this paper investigates a Fuzzy IPPS (FIPPS) problem to minimize the maximum fuzzy completion time. Compared with the conventional IPPS problem,FIPPS considers the fuzzy process time in the uncertain production environment,which is more practical and realistic. However,it is difficult to solve the FIPPS problem due to the complicated fuzzy calculating rules. To solve this problem,this paper formulates a novel fuzzy mathematical model based on the process network graph and proposes a MultiSwarm Collaborative Optimization Algorithm (MSCOA) with an integrated encoding method to improve the optimization. Different swarms evolve in various directions and collaborate in a certain number of iterations. Moreover,the critical path searching method is introduced according to the triangular fuzzy number,allowing for the calculation of rules to enhance the local searching ability of MSCOA. The numerical experiments extended from the well-known Kim benchmark are conducted to test the performance of the proposed MSCOA. Compared with other competitive algorithms,the results obtained by MSCOA show significant advantages,thus proving its effectiveness in solving the FIPPS problem.

Optimization of multi-objective integrated process planning and scheduling problem using a priority based optimization algorithm

For increasing the overall performance of modem manufacturing systems, effective integration of process planning and scheduling functions has been an important area of consideration among researchers. Owing to the complexity of handling process planning and scheduling simultaneously, most of the research work has been limited to solving the integrated process planning and scheduling （IPPS） problem for a single objective function. As there are many conflicting objectives when dealing with process planning and scheduling, real world problems cannot be fully captured considering only a single objective for optimization. Therefore considering multi-objective IPPS （MOIPPS） problem is inevitable. Unfortunately, only a handful of research papers are available on solving MOIPPS problem. In this paper, an optimization algorithm for solving MOIPPS problem is presented. The proposed algorithm uses a set of dispatch- ing rules coupled with priority assignment to optimize the IPPS problem for various objectives like makespan, total machine load, total tardiness, etc. A fixed sized external archive coupled with a crowding distance mechanism is used to store and maintain the non-dominated solutions. To compare the results with other algorithms, a C-matric based method has been used. Instances from four recent papers have been solved to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed method is an efficient approach for solving the MOIPPS problem.