(The) tool loading problem with alternative process plans in FMS under tool movement policy

Abstract

This research addresses the loading problem, given alternative process plans for each part and constraints of the number of tool copies, where each part visits only one of the machines for its entire process. In these FMSs, if a machine doesn``t install the tools required for part assigned to it, it can borrow tools from other machines or a tool crib. Hence we propose a heuristic solution that select a process plan for each part well and assign parts and tools to machines with the objective of minimizing the number of tool movement borrowed while achieving a balanced workload among machine centers. The most important feature of this heuristic procedure is to propose a similarity coefficient considering alternative process plans and constraints of the number of tool copies. In the computational results, our heuristic is compared with the existing Song``s heuristic.