Optimal cyclic scheduling of a robotic flowshop with multiple part types and flexible processing times

Weidong Lei, Ada Che, Chengbin Chu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper proposes a branch-and-bound algorithm for cyclic scheduling of a robotic flowshop with multiple part types in which the processing times of parts can vary within their given time windows. The problem consists of two types of sequencing issues: part input sequencing and robot move sequencing. We give a formulation for the problem and propose a branch-and-bound algorithm based on the properties of the developed model. The proposed branch-and-bound algorithm consists of three nested procedures, called procedures A, B and C, respectively. Procedures A and B are mainly designed for enumerating part input sequences, while procedure C is responsible for enumerating robot move sequences. To reduce the solution space and speed up the algorithm, we derive the upper bound of the number of parts that can be serviced by the robot within a cycle. Computational results on both benchmark and randomly generated instances are reported.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)143-167
Number of pages25
JournalEuropean Journal of Industrial Engineering
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Branch-and-bound algorithm
  • Cyclic hoist scheduling
  • Flexible processing times
  • Minimal part set
  • MPS
  • Robotic flowshop

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