Title: Task dispatching in reconfigurable seru production systems to minimise total earliness and tardiness

Authors: Jie Lian; ChenGuang Liu; Wenjuan Li; Juning Su; Hongquan Xue

Addresses: School of Economics and Management, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China ' School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China ' Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore ' School of Economics and Management, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China ' School of Economics and Management, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an 710048, China

Abstract: Owing to movable workstations, light equipment and multi-skilled workers, serus can be constructed, modified and dismantled rapidly. Taking over such an advantage, serus can be reconfigured in response to frequent changes in product types. The issue is how to arrange the configuration of seru with the tasks assigned to it. To this end, we focus on solving the task dispatching, product sequencing and seru reconfiguration problems simultaneously. A nonlinear mathematical model with objective of minimising the total earliness and tardiness is formulated. In order to verify the proposed model, small-size numerical examples are solved by Lingo. A genetic algorithm is developed due to its NP-hardness, and the algorithm is tested by numerical examples in different sizes. Based on the computational results, the performance of seru production systems and assembly lines is compared, and the impact of parameters on system performance is analysed. [Submitted: 6 January 2020; Accepted: 4 April 2021]

Keywords: seru production; cell loading; seru reconfiguration; product sequencing; genetic algorithm.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIE.2022.121959

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2022 Vol.16 No.3, pp.241 - 267

Accepted: 04 Apr 2021
Published online: 07 Apr 2022 *

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