Minimizing and balancing setups in a serial production system

Paolo Detti (1) , Marco Pranzo (2) , Carlo Meloni (3)

1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione
2 Dipartimento di Ingengeria dell'Informazione
3 DEE - Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica ed Elettronica [Bari]

This paper addresses a problem arising in the coordination between two consecutive manufacturing departments of a production system, in which parts are processed in batches, and each batch is characterized by two distinct attributes. Due to limited interstage buffering between the two stages, the two departments have to follow the same batch sequence. In the first department, a setup occurs every time the first attribute of the new batch is different from the previous one. In the downstream department, there is a setup when the second attribute of the new batch changes. The problem consists in finding a common batch sequence optimizing some global utility index. Here we propose a metaheuristic approach to a bi-criteria version of the problem considering two indices, namely the total number of setups paid by the two departments and the maximum number of setups paid by either department.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Paolo Detti, Marco Pranzo, Carlo Meloni. Minimizing and balancing setups in a serial production system. International Journal of Production Research, 2007, 45 (24), pp.5769-5788. ⟨10.1080/00207540701636306⟩. ⟨hal-00513002⟩