CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING

Vol.23,aNo. *,a2010
DOI: 10.3901/CJME.2010.**.***,availableonlineatwww.cjmenet.comwww.cjmenet.com.cn

ConfigurationSelectionforReconfigurableManufacturingSystemsbyMeans ofCharacteristicStateSpace
HUANGLiang*,GAO Yuan,QIANFeng,TANGSuzhou,andWANGDelun
SchoolofMechanicalEngineering,DalianUniversityofTechnology, Dalian116021,China
Received October20,2009revised May,2010accepted May,2010publishedelectronically May,2010

Abstract: The configuration selection for reconfigurable manufacturing systems(RMS) have been tackled in a number of studies by usinganalyticalorsimulationmodels.Thesimulationmodelsareusuallybasedonfewerassumptionsthantheanalyticalmodelsand thereforearemorewildlyusedinmodelingcomplexRMS.Butintheabsenceofanefficientgradientanalysismethodoftheobjective function,itistimeconsuminginsolvinglargescaleproblemsby usingasimulationmodelcoupledwithametaheuristicsalgorithm.In thispaper,anewapproachbymeansofcharacteristicstatespaceispresentedtoimprovetheefficiencyoftheconfigurationselectionfor anRMS.First,acharacteristicstateequationissetuptorepresenttheinputandtheoutputresourcesofeachbasicactivityinanRMS.A production process model in terms of matrix equations is established by iterating the equations of basic activities according to the resourceflows.Thismodel introducestheproductionprocessintoacharacteristicstatespaceforfurtheranalysis.Second,theproperties ofthecharacteristicstatespacearepresented.Onthebasisoftheseproperties,theconfigurationselectioninanRMSisconsideredasa pathplanningproblem,andthegradientoftheobjectivefunctioniscomputed.Modifiedsimulatedannealing(SA)isalsopresented,in which neighborhood generation is guided by the gradient to accelerate convergence and reduce the run time of the optimization procedure.Finally,severalcasestudiesontheconfigurationselectionforsomeactualreconfigurableassemblyjobshopsarepresented andcomparedtotheclassicalSA.Thecomparisonshowsrelativelypositiveresults.Thisstudyprovidesamoreefficientconfiguration selectionapproachbyusingthegradientoftheobjectivefunctionandpresents therelevanttheoriesonwhichitisbased. Key words: reconfigurablemanufacturingsystem,configurationselection,characteristicstatespace,simulatedannealing

independentandtheprocesstimesaredetermined,suchas [3] themodularbasedmethodsproposed byTSAI,etal ,the 1 Introduction [4] analytichierarchyprocess(AHP)usedbyABDI,etal ,and [5] Inrecentyears,marketdemandformechanicalproducts the graphtheory used by LOU, et al .Thesemethods are hasbecomeincreasinglydiversifiedandcustomized,which not suitable to mechanical manufacturing systems with [6] forces manufacturing companiesto makeasmany product stochastic demand and processing times. SILVA, et al , variationsaspossibleataffordablecostswithinashorttime. appliedan openqueuingnetwork(OQN)to create amodel The reconfigurable manufacturing system(RMS), which ofametallurgicaljobshopandreallocateditscapacity.XIE, [7] canregulatetheperformanceofamanufacturingsystemby et al , used extended stochastic Petri nets(ESPN) to changingitsconfiguration,hasbeenrecommendedbymore analyzetheperformanceofareconfigurablemotorproduct [12] andmoreresearchers .Theseconfigurationchangescan line. These queuing networksbased methods can be physical reconfiguration (such as adding, removing, or effectively simplify the description of the production moving machines and updating tools) or logical processes, but some of their assumptions, such as first reconfiguration(suchasassignmentofoperations).Inmost come first service(FCFS), limit their applications. RMSs, there is a need to change the configuration of Simulation models are widely used to analyze some multiple stations simultaneously. These complex complexmanufacturingsystemsbecausemodelingthemas combinationaloptimizationproblemsgenerallyhavesearch queuingnetworksisdifficult.Intheabsenceofanefficient analysis method of the gradient of the objective function, spacesthatarequitelarge. [8] [9] Variousmethodshavebeenusedtosolvetheseproblems. recentstudiesbyTAN,etal ,andYOUSSEF,etal used [10] Someofthesemethodsassumethatthedemandofpartsis genetic algorithm(GA) and DEFERSHA, et al , used [10] simulated annealing(SA) . These GA and SA were employedwithaninitialsolutionthatattemptstoreachthe * Correspondingauthor.Email:huangliang797@yahoo.com.cn This project is supported by National Hightech Research and optimum solution by using a neighborhood search. In Development Program of China (863 Program, Grant No. addition to simulation models, many alternatives were 2006AA04Z101) and Dalian Municipal Science and Technology examined through simulation in the search procedures, Program ofChina (GrantNo.2008J31JH011)

2 YHUANGLiangetal:ConfigurationSelectionforReconfigurableManufacturingSystemsby MeansofCharacteristicStateSpace

which causes the algorithms to be timeconsuming in solvinglargescaleproblems. Since an effective neighborhoodgeneration method is helpfulinacceleratingconvergenceandcontrollingtherun time of the optimization procedure, the characteristic state [11] space method is used in this paper to model the mechanical production process in an RMS. This method alsoprovidesanefficientapproachtocomputethegradient of the objective function for the configuration selection.A modified SA is also presented,in which theneighborhood generationisguidedbythegradientsinordertoaccelerate convergence and reduce the run time of the optimization procedure. Our aim is to make the run time sufficiently short for practical use, even if simulation is performed at eachiterationinthe optimizationprocedure.

processed. This difference can be represented by a pair of multidimensional vectors, xi and xo, while their relationship is represented by a linear matrix A. The transformationprocessofthecharacteristicvariablescanbe denotedsimplybythefollowingmatrixequation: xo = Ax. i (1)

2 ModelofBasicActivities
2.1 Basicactivities Mechanical manufacturing systems are systems that transfer materials through casting, forging, metal cutting, welding,assembly,andotheractivities.Theperformanceof these systems is determined by the activities. Therefore, modelingtheactivitiesandtheirrelationshipisthebasisfor evaluating and optimizing the system. In most actual workshops, machines with similar functions are grouped into stations. Each activity can be identified by its technological type (the station code) andits service object (thelotcode). Definition 1: Theoperation of one lot processed in one stationiscalledabasicactivity. Under theabove definition, a basic activity has a single technological type and a single service object. A basic activityhasstableperformancecharacteristicsandcouldbe used as a basic componentto analyze complex production processes. 2.2 Characteristicvariable Characteristic state space analysis method is used to evaluate the performance of each local part of a system through the change in the characteristic variables, which areabstractedfromtheinformationflows.Inthispaper,as theleadtime,thequalificationrate,andthedirectcostare used as measures of performance, the completion time t, the number of the qualified products q, and the monetary value of the qualified products c are abstracted from the productionrecordofeachbasicactivityandaretakenasthe characteristicvariablesofthebasicactivity. 2.3 Characteristicstateequation In a mechanical manufacturing system, each basic activitycanberegardedasatransformationfromtheinput resources to the output resources. The difference between the two states of characteristic variables before and after thecompletionofabasicactivityshowstheperformanceof the associated station at which the basic activity is

Definition 2: The multidimensional vectors consisting ofthecharacteristicvariablesindifferentstatesbeforeand afterthecompletionofabasicactivityarecalledtheinput characteristicvectorandtheoutputcharacteristicvectorof the basic activity, respectively. The matrix that describes thetransformationbetweenthetwocharacteristicvectorsis called the characteristic transformation matrix.The matrix equation in terms of Eq. (1), which consists of the two characteristic vectors and the characteristic transformation matrix,iscalledthecharacteristicstateequation. According to the characteristic variables used in this paper,theelementsinthevectorsandthematrixinEq.(1) areshownasfollows:
t 0 0 t t p i o qi , xo = qo , A= 0 q 0 , xi = p c c 0 0 c i o p

(2)

whereti,qi, ci,to,qo,co,tp,qp,andcp correspondtothestart time,number of raw materials,monetary value of theraw materials, completion time, number of qualified products, monetary value of the qualified products, processingtime, numberofunqualifiedproducts(innegativenumbers),and directcostofthebasicactivity,respectively.

3 ModelofMultistageProductionProcesses
3.1 Assemblyjobshop Assemblyjobshopsarewidelyusedintheproductionof large mechanical products. In an assembly job shop, the routingsofproductsareusuallyintreestructures,asshown inFig.1.

Fig.1. Routingsoftwotypicalmechanicalproducts

Each operation in the routings is processed by a determined station, which may process multiple types of

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING
operations. For example, as shown in Fig. 1, the first five operationsoftwoproductsshareasmallsizeassemblyjob shopconsistingof fivestations.Theproductionprocessof onelotforeachofthetwo productsisshowninFig.2.
1 0 0 1 0 0 I = 0 1 0 , H = 0 0 0. 0 0 1 0 0 0

(5)

3.3 Statetransformationsinamultistageprocess 3.3.1 Notiondefinition Suppose an RMS with m stations produces n lots of productsinacertainreconfigurationperiodbyusingplots ofrawmaterials.Theproductsinloti(i=1,2,,n)needni operations. The input and output characteristic vectors of lot ioperation j(i=1, 2,,nj=1, 2,,ni)are denoted as xiij and xoij, respectively the release time, number, and monetary value of theraw materialsin lotk(k=1,2,,p) are denoted as tak, qak, and cak, respectively the time of stationl(l=1,2,,m)releasetotheRMSisdenotedastrl T T letxak=(tak qak cak) andxrl=(trl 0 0) .

Fig.2. Productionprocessinanassemblyjobshop

3.2 Statetransformationsbetweenbasicactivities On the basis of the definition of basic activities, each operationofalotinanassemblyjobshopisabasicactivity. 3.3.2 Resourceflowofsupplyingmaterial Accordingtotherelationshipsofsupplyingmaterial,the Consequently,themultistageproductionprocessisasetof multistage process of each lot of raw materials forms a basicactivities. resource flow, which can be described by a multistage 3.2.1 Relationshipsof supplyingmaterial transformation of the characteristic vectors. For example, Iftheoutputproductsofabasicactivity(denotedasA1) lot 1 of the raw materials in Fig. 2 is processed by three aretherawmaterialsoftheotherbasicactivity(denotedas stations.Theassociatedtransformationofthecharacteristic A2), the start time, number, and monetary value of raw vectorsisshowninFig. 3. materials of A2 will be subject to the completion time, number, and monetary value of qualified products of A1 respectively. This relationship can be denoted by the following: xi2 = Ix . o1 (3)

Where xi2Inputcharacteristicvectorof A2, xo1Outputcharacteristicvectorof A1, ICharacteristic transformation matrix between thetwocharacteristicvectors. 3.2.2 Relationshipsofsharingcapacity If two basic activities (denoted as A3 and A4) are processedinthesamestationsuccessively,thestarttimeof A4 will be subject to the completion time of A3. This relationshipcanbedenotedbythefollowingequation: xi4 = Hx . o3 (4)

Fig.3. Resourceflowofsupplyingmaterialandtheassociated transformationofthecharacteristicvectors

Where xi4Inputcharacteristicvectorof A4, xo3Outputcharacteristicvectorof A3, HCharacteristic transformation matrix between thetwocharacteristicvectors. As therouting or the lot size design of amanufacturing system is out of the scope of this study, and in order to achieve clarity, thetimes, costs, and losses of materialsin transports and setups are included in fabrication or assemblies. Hence, I and H in Eqs. (3) and (4) can be representedasfollows:

3.3.3 Resourceflowofsharingcapacity Accordingtotherelationshipsofsharingcapacity,some resources (such as labor, energy, etc) can be regarded as beingtransferredintotheproductsprocessedbythestations. Thetransformationineachstationformsaresourceflow.It canalsobedescribedbyamultistagetransformationofthe characteristic vectors. For example, station 1 in Fig. 2 processes three operations. The associated transformation ofthecharacteristicvectorsisshowninFig. 4.

Fig.4. Resourceflowofsharingcapacityandtheassociated transformationofthecharacteristicvectors

4 YHUANGLiangetal:ConfigurationSelectionforReconfigurableManufacturingSystemsby MeansofCharacteristicStateSpace

algebra,respectively.Inthesealgebras,theoperator is 3.4 Combinationoftheresourceflows idempotent, commutative, and associative, while the Usingthismethod,wecandivideacomplexproduction operator is associative and distributive on . These process into several resource flows. For example, the properties can be summarized by the fact that the algebras productionprocessshowninFig.2canbedividedintonine are dioid algebras. Additional details can be foundin Ref. resource flows, with eachresource flow having two to six [12]. Similarly, it is easy to prove that the algebra for the stage transformations of the characteristic vectors, as characteristic variables representing currency is also dioid showninFig.5.Asthetransformationineachstagecanbe algebra. denoted by a characteristic state equation, the production It is possible to extend these two operators to matrices, process can be denoted by 32 equations, such as xo11=A11 with each type of matrix equation corresponding to a xi11, xi11=Ixa1. combination rule between the basic activities. These are summarizedinTable2.
Table2. Matrixequationscorrespondingtothecombination rulesbetweenthebasicactivities
Combinationrule Sequential Transformationgraph Matrixequation x3 =A2 A1 x 1 x3 = ( A1 x A ) 1 2 x 2

Rendezvous

Spawning

Fig.5. Transformationsofcharacteristicvectorsinthe productionprocess showninFig.2

x A 2 = 1 x 1 x A
3 2

Similar to the characteristic state equation of a basic activity, multidimensional vectors xi and xo are used to denote the input and output characteristic vectors of a multistage production process, respectively. For the production process shown in Fig. 5, xi=(xa1 xa2 xa3 xa4 T T xr1 xr2 xr3 xr4 xr5) , xo=(xo15 xo25) . The function of xo withrespecttoxi canbedescribedintermsofEq.(1)by solving the 32 characteristic state equations, which can be easilyimplementedonacomputer. Thepurposeofsettingupcharacteristicstateequationsis not only to simulate the production process, but also to record and analyze the production process for finding its criticalpathsandbottlenecks.Thiswillbeintroducedinthe followingsection.

4.2 Definitionofthecharacteristicstatespace Definition 3: The set of all feasible values of the characteristicvectorsinamanufacturingsystem,onwhich multiplication and addition are defined, is called the characteristicstatespaceofthemanufacturingsystem. Onthebasisoftheabovedefinition,thestateofeachlot canbedescribedbyapointinthecharacteristicstatespace, whilethe operation of eachlot can be described by a path between two points. The configuration selection to optimize the performance of RMS by changing the production process can be converted into a pathplanning probleminthecharacteristicstatespace.

4.3 Criticalpathsandbottleneckanalysis In a given production process of RMS, for any lot of products, the lead time or unqualified rate of the products 4 CharacteristicStateSpace can be reduced only by reducing the processing time or unqualifiedrateofthelongestsequencesofoperations.For 4.1 Algebraforcharacteristicvariables The operations for different characteristic variables are thisreason, first finding the longest path intheproduction definedinthedifferentalgebrasintroducedinTable1.The processwillbeusefulindeterminingwhichstationhasthe standard addition and multiplication are now replaced by largest effects on the performance of the RMS (i.e., to analyzethebottlenecks). and .Forclarity, isusuallyomittedinequations. Inthispaper,wedefineacriticalpathasthelongestpath Table1. Algebrasforcharacteristicvariables between the releasing of the raw materials or stations and the completion of production for each lot, weighting each Operation Time Number Currency path by the processing time or the unqualified rates. The a +b a +b a +b Multiplication a b criticalpathsforanylotofproductscanthenbecomputed max(a, b ) min(a, b ) a +b Addition a b byusing maxplus or minplus algebra. Additional details canbefoundinRef.[12]. In Table 1, the algebra for the characteristic variables In this subsection, we present a situation to introduce representing time or number is maxplus or minplus the process of detectingthe critical paths of lead timeand

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING
findingthebottlenecksbymeansofthecharacteristicstate spacemethod. First,wedefinethesymbolalgebracorrespondingtothe algebra of the characteristic vectors. For any time variable a andb, denote their values asv(a) and v(b),respectively, whichcanbeshownbythefollowing:
a , v( a ) > v(b ), a b = b, v( a ) < v(b ), a b, v( a ) = v(b), a b =ab.

methods, we can calculate the effects of station l on the qualificationrateanddirectcostofproductloti,denotedas gqil andgcil,in order to detect and measure the quality and costbottlenecks.

5 OptimizationModelandAlgorithm
5.1 Optimizationmodelofconfigurationselection Inatypical RMS with mstations producing mechanical products under a maketoorder policy, the configuration changes can be adding, removing, or moving machines to adjustthecapacityofstations,andreplacingmachinetools with highprecision ones to improve the qualification rate ofstations. Supposingthere is at least one alternative configuration that can be applied to each station in the RMS, we can describethesolutionofconfigurationsbyalineararray u= T (u1u2,, um) , where uj is an integral value corresponding to the chosen alternative at work station j (j=1, 2,, m). The feasible region of u is denoted as U. Then, under a maketoorder policy, the input characteristic vector xi of theRMSinagivenreconfigurationperiodisdeterminedby themarket demand. For the production process Au in each given solution u belonging to U, an associated output characteristicvector xou canbederivedbycomputingxou= Auxi. Using xou, we can evaluate the performance of the RMSwiththemonetarypenaltyprovidedbytheproduction managers according to the cost accounting. Let the definitionsbeasfollows: * x Objectvalueof xou, o wVector representing unit monetary penalties for the * deviationbetweenx and xou, o ruReconfigurationcostwhensolutionu ischosen, fuFixed cost in the givenreconfiguration period when solutionu ischosen. + Simplifying max(, 0) as () , we can formulate the objective function for configuration selection in the given reconfigurationperiodasfollows:

(6)

(7)

Second,thecompletiontimeofeachlotisrepresentedby a string derived by computing the characteristic state equation using the symbol algebra. For example, in the productionprocessshowninFig.5,intermsoftheearliest release time of the raw materials or stations as zero, the timevariablestpij, tak,and trl,asdefinedinsubsection3.1.1, are given in Table 3. The critical path determining the completiontimeofeachlotisrepresentedasfollows:
to15 =tp15tp14t p13ta 2, to25 =tp25t p24t p23tp13ta 2.
Table3. Timedataoftheprocess showninFig.5
2.5 5 4 4.5 2.2 tp21 tp22 tp23 tp24 tp25 1 3.5 4.5 6 3.7 tr1 tr2 tr3 tr4 tr5 0.2 1.2 0 2 5.1 ta1 ta2 ta3 ta4 0 0 2 2

(8) (9)
h

Variable Value Variable Value Variable Value Variable Value tp11 tp12 tp13 tp14 tp15

Finally,ineachcriticalpathofproductloti(i=1,2,,n), grouptheprocessingtimesofoperationsintothestationsat which the operations are processed. Then, sum up the grouped processing times at each station l (l=1, 2,, m) * z = w ( x ou - x ) + + ru + f u. (10) o multiply them by 1% and denote them as gtil. For the critical paths shown in Eqs. (8) and (9) for the Denotingtheupperboundofthereconfigurationcostas production process shown in Fig. 5, the results of gtil are rmax,theoptimizationmodelisasfollows: presentedinTable4.
Table4. Resultsof gtil intheprocessshowninFig.5
Station 1 2 3 4 5 Productlot1 gt11= tp141%= 0.045 gt12= 0 gt13= tp131%= 0.04 gt14= 0 gt15= tp151%= 0.022 Product lot2 gt21= 0 gt22= 0 gt23= (tp13+ tp23)1%= 0.095 gt24= tp241%= 0.06 gt25= tp251%= 0.037 h

min z , uU s.t. r r . u max

(11)

In Table 4, gtil shows the effect of reducing the processing times at station l on reducing the lead time of productloti.Thestationthathasthetotalmaximaleffects is the lead time bottleneck of the system. Using similar

5.2 ModifiedSA The results of the bottleneck analysis can point to the directionofthemaximaldecreaseoftheobjectivefunction of the optimization model. However, on the basis of pilot experiments, changing the configurations along with the pointed out directions has little possibility in trapping a local optimum solution. For the purpose of avoiding this problem, a modified SA, in which inferior solutions are

6 YHUANGLiangetal:ConfigurationSelectionforReconfigurableManufacturingSystemsby MeansofCharacteristicStateSpace

accepted with a probability in the neighborhood search, is used to enable the search procedure to move successively fromonelocalminimumtoabetterone.Thisalgorithmis summarizedasfollows. Step 1: Set the control parameters as follows: initial temperatureTi, termination temperature Tf, cooling rate , accept limit , and freeze limit . Take Ti as the current temperatureT. Set the simulation parameters according to the historical production data of the RMS, and obtain the objective function value z(u0) by performing a simulation inthecurrentsolutionu0. Step 2: Set up the characteristic state equations of the simulated production process. For the process producingp productlotsusingmstations,computegtil,gqlj,andgcil (i= 1,2,,nl=1,2,,m)byusingthemethodsinsection3.3 andformthemasfollows:
G11 G12 L Gm 1 gil 0 0 G G L G t 21 22 2m . Gil = 0 g il 0 , G= M M q M 0 0 g G G LG c il n1 n 2 nm

(12)

In this way, a solution that has the larger effects on reducing the objective function value has the higher probability to be generated. Parameter in Eq. (14) is a new control parameter, called guiding rate, to adjust the influence of the bottleneck analysis on the neighborhood generation. Step 3: Perform a new simulation to calculate the objective function value z1(u1)in the new solution u1. Let z=z1(u1)-z1(u0), the new solution u1 will replace the current solution u0if z<0 otherwise, apply a probability P(A)=exp(-z/T) to determine whether the new solution willreplacethecurrentone. Step4:ThecurrenttemperatureTisadjustedafterevery iterations according to . If it is below Tf, or if the solution has not been improved for too many continuous iterations to overstep , stop the neighborhood search otherwise,goto step2. In the above algorithm, the neighborhood generation is basedonaprobability obtainedbythebottleneckanalysis. Itisdifferentfromtheneighborhoodgenerationmethodsat random or by tracking the search history in the classical SA.

Supposing there are N solutions neighbor to u0 in U (onlyoneelementischanged),whensolutionu0i (i=1,2,, 6 CaseStudy N)ischosen,thepercentagesofincreasingorreducingthe performanceatthemstationsaredenotedasmdimensional 6.1 Backgroundanddata The No. 8 workshop in Bingshan Group Dalian vector a(u0i ).The output characteristic vector xo(u0i) can RefrigerationCompanyisatypicalassembly jobshop.This becalculatedbythefollowing: workshop produces a variety of large refrigeration and xo (u0i ) =G Da (u i ). (13) heating equipment under a maketoorder policy. The 0 marketdemandfortheseproductsisclearlyseasonal. The products inthis workshop can be grouped into two Theobjectivefunctionvaluez(u0i )inu0i (i=1,2,,N)can classes (product families) according to their routings and becomputedusingEq.(10).Letz(u0i)=z(u0i )-z(u0)and demanddistributions,whicharedenotedasproducts1and denote the maximum in z(u0i ) (i=1, 2,, N) as zmax. A 2. Their routings are shown in Fig. 1. Using the historic probability is applied to generate a new solution u1 from data collected from the management information system the neighborhood solutions of u0, which is shown as of the enterprise from September 1, 2007 to August 31, follows: 2009, we could obtain the statistical characteristic of the market demand, the production process, and the g [ Dzm ax - Dz(ui)] 0 P u1 = ui) = N ( . (14) configuration of stations, as shown in Tables 5, 6, and 7, 0 g respectively. [ Dz - Dz (u )]

i 1 =

m ax

0 i

Table5. Marketdemandandbreachpenaltyineachseasoninthecasestudy
Month Product i 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 Meaninterarrival timeoforders tia/d 5.23 3.12 7.25 2.14 4.86 3.98 3.63 6.75 Meanlot size Lm 12.57 9.38 10.24 9.79 11.34 9.09 15.39 8.78 Standarddeviation inlotsize Lsd 8.24 3.15 6.86 4.67 5.21 4.58 9.89 3.13 Meanlead time tl/d 15 20 16 19 15 20 15 22 Meanpenaltyfortardiness perunitperday wt / 220 165 215 170 224 178 221 163 Meanpenaltyfor rejectperunit wq/ 2361 1960 2312 2028 2365 1913 2408 1850

35 68 911 122

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Table6. Number,upperbound,andfixedcostofmachinesateachstationinthecasestudy
Station l 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Name Turning Milling Drilling Boring Combinedmachining Assembly1 Assembly2 Numberofmachines ml 6 6 5 10 4 15 15 Upperboundofmachines mmaxl 10 10 10 20 10 20 20

Fixedcostpermachineandpermonth fl/ 2100 2500 1800 1200 4600 1500 1500

Table7. Processingtime,unqualifiedrate,anddirectcostofeachoperationinthecasestudy
Product i Operationj 1 2 3 4 5 1 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Station l 1 2 3 1 6 2 3 4 5 3 6 6 1 4 3 4 7 2 3 4 7 1 3 1 3 7 Meanprocessingtimeperunit at/h 4.08 3.68 0.96 3.40 9.80 4.12 1.24 4.60 6.68 1.12 9.36 13.64 2.28 4.08 0.84 4.20 8.28 4.16 1.00 4.40 10.48 2.72 0.84 2.92 1.20 14.24 Unqualifiedrate aq/% 0.25 0.61 0.96 0.23 0.09 0.35 1.31 0.87 0.05 1.22 0.08 0.11 0.32 0.92 1.02 0.79 0.08 0.23 1.04 0.86 0.08 0.21 0.94 0.22 0.91 0.15 Directcostperunit ac/ 150.96 158.24 30.72 125.80 205.80 177.16 39.68 197.80 634.60 35.84 196.56 286.44 84.36 175.44 26.88 180.60 173.88 187.20 32.00 189.20 220.08 100.64 26.88 108.04 38.40 299.04

Inactualassemblyjobshopswithstochasticdemandand processing times, scheduling is generally carried out with the aid ofheuristic dispatchingrules.The dispatchingrule usedintheworkshopistheearliestduedate,withthefirst come first service(EDD/FCFS) employed to break ties. Withinastation,operationsareassignedtothemachinesat anaveragesincetheirperformancesaresimilar. For the purpose of reconfiguring the workshop, aside from adding or removing machines, the computerized numerical controlled(CNC) machines used for the combinedprocessingatstation5canbemovedtostation1 or station 2 after changing the configurations of the machine tools the assembly machines at stations 6 and 7 can also be moved from one station to the other and the unqualified rates at stations 3 and 4 can be reduced by updatingfixturestoimprovetheaccuracyofthepositioning, with the reductions expected to be 67% and 80%,

respectively.Fortheworkshop,alltypesofreconfiguration have no clear impact on direct costs. The reconfiguration costsandthechangedfixedcostsarepresentedinTable8. Supposethatthemarketdemandinthenexttwoyearsis similartothecharacteristicofhistoricalstatistics,underthe condition of the reconfiguration cost being limited to 1 000 000, the problem lies in the process of reconfiguring the workshop not only to meet the market demand but also to make the overall cost the as low as possible.Thisproblemisdenotedasproblem1.Meanwhile, the configuration selection problem in another larger assembly job shop in the company producing 5 classes of products with 12 stations using EDD/FCFS is denoted as problem 2. Without losing generality, we generate a hypothetical configuration selection problem in an assembly job shop that produces 10 classes of products with 20 stations and uses an effective dispatching rule

8 YHUANGLiangetal:ConfigurationSelectionforReconfigurableManufacturingSystemsby MeansofCharacteristicStateSpace

called weighted latest finish time/earliest completion [13] time(WLFT/ECT) proposed in a recent study and

denote it as problem 3. Due to space constraint, data of problems2and3arenotlistedindetailsinthispaper.

Table8. Reconfigurationcostandchangedfixedcostforeachreconfigurationinthecasestudy
Reconfiguration Station l 1 2 Adding/removing Machines 3 4 5 6 7 Movingmachines Updatingfixtures 1,2,5 6,7 3 4 Reconfigurationcost permachine rl/
+76000/-60800 +108000/-86400 +42000/-33600 +80000/-64000 +320000/-256000 +20000/-1600 +20000/-1600 +2000 +1000 +5000 +8500

Fixedcostpermachineandpermonth fl/
+2100/-2100 +2500/-2500 +1800/-1800 +2200/-2200 +4600/-4600 +1500/-1500 +1500/-1500

L L/(mm + Dm ) m Dat = P (L = i ) 100%, L/ m m i 1 =

6.2 Computationalexperimentsandtheirresults First, a simulation tool was developed by using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to model the stochastic production process. The interarrival times of product orders and processing times were generated by using exponentialdistributionslotsizesweregeneratedbyusing normaldistributionsthenumbersofunqualifiedoperations were generated by using binomial distributions and the orderleadtimes,breachpenalties,directcosts,fixedcosts, and reconfiguration costs were set to be fixed values by averaging their historical data. The results of the simulations for problems 1 and 2 were compared to the actual production records and their mean deviations were no more than 5%. The mean time of each simulation for problems1,2,and3were55 s,72s,and105s,respectively, usingapersonalPentiumIVcomputerwith2.4GHzCPU and1GBmemory. Second,the approachintroduced inthis paper was used tosetupthecharacteristicstateequationsofthesimulated production processes, and bottleneck analysis was conducted. The program for setting up equations and bottleneck analysis was integrated to the simulation tool andrunatthesametime,withnosignificantincreaseinthe simulationtime. Third, the impact of each feasible configuration on the performanceoftheassociatedstationwasestimated.Inthe case study, based on the dispatching rules, when the machines at a station were added or removed, the percentage of the increase or reduction of the processing timecouldbecalculatedbythefollowingformula:

(15)

where mmNumberofthemachinesalreadyatthe station, mmNumberoftheaddedorremovedmachines, LLotsize, P(L=i)Probabilitywhenthelotsizeis i, g Upwardrounding. Whenthefixturesatastationareupdated,thereductionof the unqualified rate can be calculated by the following formula:
d Dm f 100%, Da = 1 q mm

(16)

Where mfNumberofthemachinesupdatedthe fixtures, dReduction of the unqualified rate in one machinewithanupdatedfixture. Finally, on the basis ofthe above analysis, the modified SAalgorithmproposedinsection4.2wasusedtooptimize the configuration selection. In this study, the classical SA using the random neighborhoodgeneration method was alsotestedinthecasestudiesinordertoprovidebaselines for the proposed algorithm. Using pilot experiments, we applied two typical settings of control parameters to the modifiedSAandtheclassicalSA,respectively,asshownin Table 9. The four algorithms with different settings were used to solve problems 1, 2, and 3. The results are presentedinTable10.

Table9. Settingofthecontrolparametersforeachalgorithm
Algorithm 1 2 3 4 Neighborhoodgeneration method Basedonbottlenecks Basedonbottlenecks Atrandom Atrandom Initial temperature Ti 1 1 1 1 Termination temperature Tf 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.3 Cooling rate 0.9 0.7 0.9 0.7 Accept limit 10 5 10 5 Freeze limit 20 10 20 10 Guiding rate 2 2

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING
Table10. Resultsofproblems1,2,and3byusingthe fouralgorithms
Algorithm 1 2 3 4 Objectivefunctionvalue Z/ Problem1 14672603 14710975 15251143 16107482 Problem2 21452603 22061719 24338762 25700669 Problem3 43697438 45236514 49867997 51227256 Problem1 1 024 716 13921 5244 Computationtime T/s ProblemP2 1 860 1677 22500 7439

Problem3 3119 3063 32763 12057

O b je c tiv e f unc tionv a lue Z /

16800000 16600000 16400000 16200000

N um berofm achines m l

Theresults show that the proposed algorithms based on capacityrequirementareshowninFig.8. the bottleneck analysis (algorithms 1 and 2) have noticeably shorter computation times and provide 60.0% higherquality solutions compared to the classical 50.0% algorithms (algorithms 3 and 4). Their effects are larger 40.0% 30.0% thanthoseofthecontrolparameteradjustment.Theresults 20.0% ofalgorithms1and2wereobtainedwithin1h byusinga 10.0% personalPentiumIVcomputer,reinforcingtheapplicability 0.0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 oftheproposedmethod. A typicaltransversalofthesolutionsurfaceinproblem1 Stationl is presented in Fig. 6 forinstance, which isrepresentedin Fig.7. Percentageofbeingtheleadtimebottleneck terms of a continuous curve by interpolation. The other foreachstationinproblem1 transversals of the solution surface are similar to the presentedone. 5 CombinedMachining Turning Milling
Percen tag eo f b ein g th elead tim eb ottleneck p b t
4 3 2 1 0 35 68 Month 911 122

16 28 40 52 64 76 88 10 0
Capacity(workhoursperday)ofastationin defficentsolutionsC /h
Fig.8. AssignmentoftheCNCmachines ineachseasonin problem1

Fig.6. Typicaltransversalofthesolutionsurfaceofproblem1

Fig. 6 shows the solution surface is fluctuant only in the area close to the optimum solution and it is monotonicintheotherarea.Thisfactmightexplainwhy the proposed algorithms can find approximate optimal solutionssofastbasedontheguidanceofgradients. 6.3 Applicationsinindustry The configuration selection methods proposed in this paperhasbeenintegratedintothe managementinformation systemof BingshanGroupDalianRefrigerationCompany. The following decision supports can be provided to the productionmanagersofthecompany. The first isthe distributions of the shifting bottlenecks, which can serve as guidance for production managers in developingnewconfigurations.Forexample,inproblem1, the percentage of being the lead time bottleneck of the RMSforeachstationisshowninFig.7. The second is the optimal configuration in each reconfiguration period, which provides decision supportto production managers for reconfiguring the RMS. For example, in problem 1, the numbers of CNC machines assigned to the three stations in each season based on the

The third is the tradeoff curves between the performance of the RMS and the limitation of the reconfiguration cost, which are useful for production managers in determining how much funds should be invested on the RMS to reach some targeted performance measures. For example, in problem 1, the tradeoff curve between the mean lead time of product 2 and the upper boundofthereconfigurationcostisshowninFig.9.
M ean lead tim e tl/d 24 22 20 18 16 14 12
0 50 00 00 10 00 00 0 15 00 00 0 20 00 00 0 25 00 00 0

Upperboundofthereconfigurationcost rmax/

Fig.9. Tradeoffcurvebetweenthemeanleadtimeand the upperboundofthereconfigurationcostin problem1

10 YHUANGLiangetal:ConfigurationSelectionforReconfigurableManufacturingSystemsby MeansofCharacteristicStateSpace
[9] YOUSSEF A M A, ELMARAGHYH A.Availability consideration in the optimal selection of multipleaspect RMS configurations[J]. InternationalJournalofProductionResearch,2008,46(21):5849 5 882. [10]DEFERSHA F M, CHEN M. A simulated annealing algorithm for dynamic systemreconfigurationand production planningin cellular manufacturing[J]. International Journal of Manufacturing TechnologyandManagement,2009,17(12):103124. [11]WANG Delun, ZHANG Dezhen, MA Yali. A new approach to automated conceptual design of mechanical system by means of statespace[J]. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2003, 39(3):2227. (inChinese) [12]CHEN Wende, QI Xiangdong. Discrete event dynamic systems Maxplusalgebra[M].Beijing:SciencePress,1994. (inChinese) [13]NATARAJAN K,MOHANASUNDARAM K M,BABUBS,etal. Performance evaluation of priority dispatching rules in multilevel assembly job shops with jobs having weights for flow time and tardiness[J]. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology,2007,31(78):751761.

7 Conclusions
(1) The multistage production process in RMS can be described by characteristic state equations that are easy to implementonacomputer. (2)Thetheoryandmethodinanalyzingtheperformance bottleneckofRMSproducingmechanicalproductsundera maketoorder policy are provided through the characteristicstatespaceanditsproperties. (3) Compared to the classical SA using the random neighborhood generation method, the modified SA algorithm proposed in this paper shows better efficiency andeffectontheconfigurationselectionofsomeRMSs.It has been applied in an actual company and provides a varietyofdecisionsupportsforproductionmanagers. References
[1] LIANGFujun,NINGRuxin.Theoreticalresearch ofreconfigurable manufacturing system[J]. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering,2003,39(6):3643. (inChinese) [2] BIZM,LANGSYT,SHEW,etal.Reconfigurablemanufacturing systems: the state of the art[J]. International Journal of Production Research,2008,46(4):967992. [3] TSAI YT, WANGKS.Thedevelopmentofmodularbaseddesignin considering technology complexity[J]. European Journal of OperationalResearch,1999,119(3):692703. [4] ABDI M R, LABIB A W. A design strategy for reconfigurable manufacturing systems using analytical hierarchical process: a case study[J]. InternationalJournalofProductionResearch, 2003,41(10): 2 2732 299. [5] LOUHongliang, YANGJiangxin,LIN Yafu,etal. Reconfigurating policy of reconfigurable manufacturing system on graph theory[J]. ChineseJournalofMechanicalEngineering,2006,42(3):2229.(in Chinese) [6] SILVAC R, MORABITO R. Performance evaluation and capacity planning in a metallurgical jobshop system using open queueing network models[J]. International Journal of Production Research, 2009,47(23):6 5896 609. [7] XIE Nan, LI Aiping. Modeling and analysis of reconfigurable manufacturing system by extended stochastic Petri Nets[J]. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2006, 142(12): 224231. (in Chinese) [8] TANGL,YIPHOIDM,WANGW,etal.Concurrentlinebalancing, equipment selection and throughput analysis for multipart optimal linedesign[J].InternationalJournalforManufacturingScienceand Production, 2004,6(12): 7181.

Biographicalnotes
HUANG Liang, born in 1979, is currently a PhD candidate in School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China. His research interests include reconfigurable manufacturing system, production scheduling, and inventory control. Tel:+86041184708081Email:huangliang797@yahoo.com.cn GAO Yuan, born in 1964, is currently an associate professor in School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China. Her research interests include industrial engineeringand management informationsystem. Email:gaoyuandut@yahoo.com.cn QIAN feng, born in 1977, is currently a lecturer in School of MechanicalEngineering,DalianUniversityofTechnology,China. Email:qianfeng@dlut.edu.cn TANG Suzhou, born in 1979, is currently a PhD candidate in School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology,China. Email:tsz79@163.com WANG Delun, born in 1958, is currently a professor and PhD candidatesupervisorinSchoolofMechanicalEngineering,Dalian University of Technology, China. His research interests include kinematic geometry, conceptual design of mechanical systems, and industrial engineering. Email:delunwang@dlut.edu.cn