43 Cell Loading and Product Sequencing in Synchronized Manufacturing Cells Using GA

The main characteristic of the problem is that it considers a synchronized environment. A scheduling problem is handled in a manufacturing system that is using uniform time bucket approach for synchronization. There are three main aspects of the problem. The first aspect is the allocation of manpower. The manpower levels are determined in order to maximize production rate. Then, cell loading issue is addressed for multiple cells. Finally, a product sequence is generated for each cell in order to minimize the number of periods where available manpower is exceeded. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is proposed to solve the problem. Two main approaches are developed and along with different cell loading strategies. Minimizing similarity among products during cell loading led to better product sequences in each cell.