CHAPTER 8

CONCLUSION

8.1 OUTCOME OF THIS THESIS

The scheduling of various resources in FMS environment has been

considered in this thesis for the minimization of various objectives in order to
improve the productivity and to reduce the cost of manufacturing. The
numerical problems of various sizes and the bench mark problems have been
considered for testing the proposed methodologies. The results are compared
with other possible algorithms to validate the effectiveness of the proposed
methods. The various objectives have been considered as single and multiple
objectives for minimization. In case of multi-objective, various objectives are
considered simultaneously. The various objectives considered in the present
work are listed below.

 Makespan (MS)

 Mean flow time ( MFT)

 Mean machine idle time (MMIT)

 Total empty travel time (TETT) of AGVs

 Distance travelled by S/R machine

Various evolutionary algorithms are employed to predict the solution

to the problems such as ESGA, SA, MOGA, NSGA, NSGA-II, AIS and PSO.
The existing algorithms, priority dispatching rules and the proposed algorithms
are tested against randomly generated problems and their effectiveness has
been compared over other heuristics.

8.2 SIMULTANEOUS SCHEDULING OF MACHINES AND

TOOLS WITH MAKESPAN OBJECTIVE

In simultaneous scheduling of machines and tools in multi-machine

FMS environment, the makespan objective is considered for minimization.
Twenty two job sets that consist of machines, tools and processing times are
generated and the minimization of makespan is carried out using different
exiting and proposed algorithms. The problems are discussed in Chapter 3. The
AIS algorithm yields better results for all the job sets except one in minimizing
makespan. The results are compared with the results obtained by the algorithms
such as MWR, LWR, SPT, LPT, MOR, LOR, MNSGA-MWR, MNSGA-
LWR, MNSGA-SPT, MNSGA-LPT, MNSGA-MOR, MNSGA-LOR and
MGTA for all the job sets.

With regard to job set with numbers 6, 7, 12, 15 and 20 the makespan
value obtained by the proposed combined MNSGA with priority dispatching
rules is same as that of AIS. However, they could not outperform the AIS
algorithm. Hence, it is concluded that the AIS algorithm is suggested for
minimizing makespan objective for combined machine and tool scheduling in
FMS similar to the proposed environment.

8.3 SIMULTANEOUS SCHEDULING OF MACHINES, TOOLS

AND AGVS WITH MAKESPAN OBJECTIVE

In simultaneous scheduling of machines, tools and AGVs in multi-

machine FMS environment, the makespan objective is considered for
minimization. Eighty two example problems are formed with the ten job sets
with four travel time matrices that consist of machines, tools, AGVs and
processing times. The minimization of makespan is carried out using different
exiting and proposed algorithms for the above problems. The ESGA algorithm
yields better results for all the job sets since elitist strategy is incorporated into
GA and generates best schedules that minimizes makespan. Moreover, Linear
Order Crossover (LOX), Partially Mapped Crossover (PMX), Insert (INS)
mutation and Inverse (INV) mutation are used in ESGA which improved the
performance of the algorithm. The results are compared with the results
obtained by the algorithms such as SPT+EST, LPT+EST, MWR+EST,
LWR+EST, MOR+EST, LOR+EST, SPT+ECT, LPT+ECT, MWR+ECT,
LWR+ECT, MOR+ECT, LOR+ECT and SAA for all the job sets.

Among 82 examples, the other heuristics produce the same results as

that of ESGA for the problems with coding P.5.1, P.7.1, P.9.1, P.3.2, P.1.3,
P.3.4, P.6.4, P.7.4, P.3.1.0, P.4.1.0, P.2.2.0, P.4.2.0, P.7.2.0, P.3.3.0, P.7.3.0,
P.3.4.0 and P.7.4.0. However, the other algorithms are unable to outperform
ESGA.

8.4 SIMULTANEOUS SCHEDULING OF MACHINES AND

TOOLS WITH MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES

In addition to makespan, other objectives such as MFT and MMIT

are considered simultaneously for minimization during the scheduling of
machines and tools. The weighted score method is used for predicting the
combined minimized values of all the objectives. The problems mentioned in
section 8.2 are considered for testing. The NSGA-II algorithm is proved to be
effective in minimizing the above objectives simultaneously because it has
special features such as non-dominated sorting and crowding distance concepts.
The results are compared with the results obtained by applying the algorithms
such as MWR, LWR, SPT, LPT, MOR, LOR, MOGA and NSGA on the job
sets. The weighted score results are presented in Table 5.18.
8.5 SIMULTANEOUS SCHEDULING OF MACHINES, TOOLS
AND AGVS WITH MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES

The objectives MFT, MMIT and TETT are considered in addition to

makespan on the problems mentioned in section 8.3. The weighted score
method is used for finding the combined minimal values of all the objectives.
The NSGA-II algorithm is proved to be better in minimizing the objectives
simultaneously. The results are compared with the results obtained by applying
algorithms such as SPT+EST, LPT+EST, MWR+ECT, LWR+ECT, MOGA
and NSGA. The manufacturing effectiveness can be improved since the
objectives related to machine scheduling are combined with objectives related
to AGV scheduling in the simultaneous consideration of various objectives.

8.6 OPTIMIZATION OF STORAGE ALLOCATIONS FOR AN

AS/RS

The best sequences of storage locations for an AS/RS is determined

for the minimization of distance travelled by S/R machine. A new methodology
is proposed for the calculation of S/R machine travel distance. Twenty
benchmark problems are taken from OR library for testing. The production
schedule obtained is given as input to AS/RS scheduling. The PSO algorithm
yields better results than AS/RS dispatching rules such as LTF, HTF, NSZ and
RAN. Hence, it is concluded that the PSO algorithm is suggested for
minimizing distance travelled by the S/R machine objective for optimization of
storage locations in AS/RS in FMS.
8.7 SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK

The simultaneous scheduling problem considering resources such as

machines, tools and AGVs can be extended further by considering the other
resources like robots and pallets and fixtures. The present study is carried out
in a static operating environment. The same problem can be examined in a
dynamic environment such as unexpected breakdowns, traffic congestion and
changes in process plans due to arrival of new orders. The objectives considered
in the present work are makespan, mean flow time, mean machine idle time and
total empty travel time of AGVs. In future, other objectives such as mean
tardiness, maximum lateness of jobs and mean waiting time for tools can also
be considered. In AGV scheduling, only two AGVs are considered and more
than two AGVs can be considered in the future. Battery recharging time of
AGVs are not considered in this work and this may be considered in future.
Moreover, one S/R machine is considered in this work. More than one S/R
machine can be considered in the future work. Dual command policy is
followed in this work. Better and efficient policies can be developed in future
for storage and retrieval operations.