A MULTI-STAGE OPTIMISATION METHOD FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF AN ON-DEMAND FIXTURE MANUFACTURING CELL FOR MASS CUSTOMISATION PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

• Main Authors: Naidoo, Enrico, Padayachee, Jared, Bright, Glen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stellenbosch University 2018-08-01
• Series: South African Journal of Industrial Engineering
• Subjects: mass customisation; reconfigurable fixtures; scheduling and optimisation; cellular manufacturing systems; cluster analysis; mixed integer linear programming
• Online Access: http://sajie.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/1824

The implementation of reconfigurable fixtures is a major facilitator of mass customisation. Traditional scheduling techniques do not consider reconfigurable fixtures comprehensively. This paper describes a multi-stage optimisation method that manages the recirculation of reconfigurable fixtures in a mass customisation production system. The method was based on an on-demand fixture manufacturing cell that served a part processing cell. The method consists of three stages: using established techniques such as k-means clustering and hierarchical clustering; and a novel mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to optimise operation sequences. Minimisation of total idle time (and thus makespan) was used as the measure of performance.