A progressive approach for the integration of process planning and scheduling

Abstract

Abstract Automated process planning has been recognized as an interface between computer-aideddesignand computer-aided manufacturing. To achieve true computer integrated manufacturing (Cllvl), process planning should be integrated with scheduling. One approach to this integration problem is to merge process planning and scheduling into a single optimization task. However, the scheduling problemalone belongs to the classof nondeterministic polynomial complete (NP-complete) problemsand whencombined with processplanning, the resulting problemis evenmore difficult. One solution to this is to adopt a progressive approach, in which the interaction between process planning and scheduling starts from a more global level and ends at a more detailed level. The progressive approach described in thispaper greatlyreduces the computational complexity of the integration problemand hence can be realized in a real manufacturing environment where time is critical. Notes Samuel H. Huang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Texas Tech University. He is a member of lIE, SME, and ASME. He is also the vice president of SME Student Chapter at Texas Tech University. His research interests are CIM, CAPP, CAD/CAM, Manufacturing Systems, and the application of Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing. He has published several technical papers in these areas. Hong-Chao Zhang is an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Texas Tech University. Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. in manufacturing from the Technical University of Denmark in 1989, and his M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Alborg, Denmark, in 1986. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of Concurrent Engineering (CE) and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) including Computer-Aided Process Planning (CAPP), CAD/CAM, application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in manufacturing, automated tolerancing analysis, as well as manufacturing processes and systems. Dr. Zhang has published more than 40 technical articles in a variety of journals and conferences. One of his recent books Computerized Manufacturing Process Planning Systems was published by Chapman and Hall in 1993. He has received a research initiation award from NSF. Milton L. Smith is a professor of Industrial Engineering at Texas Tech University. He has Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. degrees in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University. His research and teaching interests include design and analysis of production systems. He has performed research and published in the area of job shop scheduling and control; he has studied automated production systems through computer simulation modeling. Dr. Smith is a senior member of lIE.