A GRASP algorithm for the Integration of Process Planning and Scheduling in a flexible job-shop. (16th February 2010)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rajkumar, M.; Asokan, P.; Page, T.; Arunachalam, S.
• Is Part Of: International journal of manufacturing research. Volume 5:Number 2(2010)
• Page Start: 230
• Page End: 251
• Publication Date: 2010-02-16
• Subjects: GRASP -- greedy randomised adaptive search procedures -- process planning -- flexible job shops -- job shop scheduling -- metaheuristics -- process planning-scheduling integration; Manufacturing processes -- Periodicals; Manufacturing processes -- Automation -- Periodicals; Production engineering -- Periodicals; Factory management -- Periodicals; 670.5
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-0591

Abstract

The Integration of Process Planning and Scheduling (IPPS) is an important research issue in achieving optimum manufacturing processes. In IPPS, vast search spaces and complex technical constraints prove to be significant barriers to the effectiveness of the processes. This paper proposes a Greedy Randomised Adaptive Search Procedures (GRASP) algorithm for the integration of process planning with production scheduling in a flexible job-shop environment. The GRASP algorithm is a metaheuristic characterised by multiple initialisations. Basically, it comprises two phases: construction phase and local search phase. For this work, the construction phase is considered through computational experiments. The performance of the presented algorithm is evaluated and compared with benchmark problem and the results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is an effective and practical approach for the flexible job-shop. [Received 24 April 2009; Revised 14 October 2009; Accepted 5 November 2009]