Expert system mixed-model assembly line scheduling

摘要

Consumer demand for variety forces manufacturers to produce models in families that can be adapted to include optional features. Scheduling assembly lines to produce these models is a complex task that requires the satisfaction of numerous constraints, such aa model selection and sequencing, lot sizes, models complexity, line interdependencies, lines capacity, and line changeover cost. This paper describes an expert system scheduler that uses a conflict resolution procedure driven by component changeover costs, intraline and interline constraints, and a set of heuristics that affect the production of the whole factory. Base models and their components are represented by object-oriented methods; rules accessing objects create production plans by resolving conflicts arising from the interactions between the numerous constraints. The resulting plans are then used to set up the production in the lines and to provide feedback to manufacturing and marketing.