An optimal sequencing approach for job-shop production

摘要

An industry producing multiple components or a component of different models requires frequent changeovers from one machine to another in an irregular fashion. Each changeover takes certain set up time, which cannot be ignored in long runs. The paper proposes a methodology to determine the best possible changeover sequence for a set of products produced on common facilities. In manufacturing firms the set up time plays a key role in changing one model to another and should be minimized. In the past, set up improvements were achieved through either skilled personal or large economic lot size-manufacture. Now-a-days, some of the companies still spending maximum time in set ups and loosing the production. Set up considerations in scheduling problems are of vital importance in finding optimum processing time. The proposed approach formulates the scheduling problem as a Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) and solves it through a novel lexicographic search approach. A case study of a leading piston manufacturing company explains the methodology.