Mgwatu, Mussa I.; Opiyo, E. Z.; Victor, M. A. M
Description:
In the work presented in this paper, we made an attempt to
integrate the decisions for interrelated sub-problems of part
design or selection, machine loading and machining
optimization in a random flexible manufacturing system
(FMS). The main purpose was to come up with an optimization
model for achieving more generic and consistent decisions for
the FMS and which can be practically implemented on the shop
floor to help designers and other engineers in several ways,
including, for instance, to optimize the designs of parts for
specific FMS.
In order to attain the generic decisions, an integer nonlinear
programming (INLP) problem was formulated and solved to
maximize the FMS throughput. Based on the results, the part
design or selection, machine loading and machining
optimization decisions can be simultaneously made. To get
more insights of the results and also to check the validity of the
model, a two-factor full factorial design was implemented for
the sensitivity analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and
residual analysis. The computational analyses show that the
tooling budget and available processing time were both
statistically significant to throughput and confirmed that the
model is valid with the data normally distributed.