Title: Generation of optimum sequence of operations using ant colony algorithm

Authors: D. Sreeramulu; Sudeep Kumar Singh; C.S.P. Rao

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Gunupur – 765022, Orissa, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Gunupur – 765022, Orissa, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal – 506004, Andra Pradesh, India

Abstract: Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) forms an important interface between computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). It is concerned with determining the sequence of individual manufacturing operations required to produce a product as per technical specifications given in the part drawing. In this paper the process planning is modelled as a combinatorial optimisation problem with constraints, and an ant colony optimisation (ACO) approach has been used to solve it. This is a newly developed metaheuristic algorithm used as a global search technique for the quick identification of the optimal operations sequence by considering various feasibility constraints.

Keywords: computer-aided process planning; CAPP; ant colony optimisation; ACO; operations sequencing; modelling; feasibility constraints.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2012.049966

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2012 Vol.4 No.4, pp.253 - 271

Published online: 11 Aug 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article