Design and Operation of Assembly Systems: Progress Report to August 1995

摘要

The purpose of this project is to establish a modern science base for prescribing optimal solutions to the single-product, assembly system design problem (SPASDP) through modern integer programming methods. We devised pre-processing methods and identified strong cutting planes to effectively resolve the SPASDP. We also developed a novel approach for generating facets of underlying polytopes computationally rather than through detailed mathematical analysis; the approach performs well on test problems. Recently, we initiated a column generation approach to address a more complex set of design and operating issues. We have maintained active interaction with industry, gathering actual data and evaluating the solution approaches.