Industrial Engineering and Computer Sciences Division (G2I

Industrial Engineering and Computer Sciences Division (G2I)
MIP APPROACH FOR BALANCING FLEXIBLE TRANSFERT
LINES WITH COMPLEX INDUSTRIAL CONSTRAINTS
M. ESSAFI, X. DELORME, A. DOLGUI, O. GUSCHINSKAYA
July 2008
RESEARCH REPORT
2008-500-4
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Centre G2I
Génie Industriel et Informatique
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Industrial Engineering and Computer Sciences
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Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne
Centre G2I
158, Cours Fauriel
42023 SAINT-ETIENNE CEDEX 2
France
MIP approach for balancing flexible transfer lines with complex
industrial constraints
M. Essafi, X. Delorme, A. Dolgui, O. Guschinskaya
Centre for Industrial Engineering and Computer Science
Ecole des Mines de Saint Etienne
158, cours Fauriel
Saint Etienne, France
(essafi, delorme, dolgui, guschinskaya)@emse.fr
Abstract
This paper deals with a novel line balancing problem for flexible transfer lines composed of
identical CNC machines. The studied lines are paced and serial, i.e. a part to be machined
passes through a sequence of stations. At least one CNC machine (Computer Numerical
Controller machine) is installed at each station. The objective is to assign a given set of
operations required for part machining to a sequence of stations while minimizing the total
number of machines used. This problem is subject to precedence constraints as well as
exclusion and inclusion constraints. Moreover, the station workload depends on the sequence
in which the operations are assigned to the station because of setup times related to the change
and displacement of tools, rotation of the part, etc. In addition, accessibility constraints have
to be considered. Therefore, it is a novel problem in the class of line balancing problems. In
this paper, we highlight its particularities by reviewing the close problems existing in the
literature. Then, we suggest a mathematical model as a mixed-integer program for the
formulation of the problem as well as a procedure for computing ranges for variables.
Experimental computations with ILOG Cplex are reported.
Keywords
Transfer line balancing, sequence-dependent setup time, parallel machines, accessibility
constraints, MIP.
Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne
Centre G2I
158, Cours Fauriel
42023 SAINT-ETIENNE CEDEX 2
www.emse.fr