Title: A VNS algorithm for a disassembly cell formation problem with demand variability

Authors: Julio Mar-Ortiz; José Luis González-Velarde; Belarmino Adenso-Díaz

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, 89140 Tampico Tamaulipas, Mexico ' Tecnológico de Monterrey, 64849 Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico ' Engineering School, Universidad de Oviedo, 33203 Gijón, Spain

Abstract: A disassembly cell formation problem with demand variability is addressed in this paper under a reconfigurable approach. The reconfigurable approach allows the cells to be rearranged periodically to deal with demand variability in a multi-period planning horizon. We present a first mathematical programming model for this new problem as well as a solution method based on the variable neighbourhood search (VNS) methodology. Computational results on a set of random instances show the convenience of the proposed algorithm to reach near optimal solutions in short computing times. When compared with the solutions found by CPLEX after 5 hrs of CPU time, on average our proposed algorithm obtained solutions improved by 7.96%. When our VNS solution is provided to CPLEX as the starting solution, these are improved by 2.75% on average. The comparison shows that our heuristic algorithms reach high quality solutions in very short computing times. [Received 5 October 2011; Revised 3 March 2012; Revised 11 May 2012; Accepted 12 May 2012]

Keywords: disassembly cells; cell formation; DCFP; cellular manufacturing; variable neighbourhood search; VNS; integer optimisation; reverse logistics; manufacturing cells; demand variability; reconfigurable manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIE.2014.059347

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2014 Vol.8 No.1, pp.22 - 49

Received: 09 Oct 2011
Accepted: 12 May 2012
Published online: 28 Jun 2014 *

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