Theories And Methodologies Of RMS' System Level Design Based On Operational Research

With the development of global economy, today's markets are characterized by high fluctuations in demand. RMS (Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems), a new type of manufacturing system, was proposed to ensure that the manufacturing enterprises can accommodate to changing markets and grasp opportunites easily. In the thesis, theories and methodologies of RMS' system level design are studied by means of Operational Research, supported by Nation's 863 Project (2001AA412160). The main contents are as follows.In chapter 1, the importance and challenge of manufacturing industry are presented. The generation and significance of RMS are discussed and the sate of arts in RMS are summarized. The main contents and general structure of the thesis are given.In chapter 2, concepts and terminologies related to RMS are explained. Characters, connotations and enabling technologies of RMS are discussed. The application of AHP method in choosing the suitable manufacturing mode for a certain enterprise is studied.In chapter 3, a product evaluating system suitable for RMS is proposed. Methodologies of fuzzy mathematics are used to evaluate various new products on the markets to choose some new products adapted to system's new configuration. After that, a goal planning mode of production schedule for RMS is constructed and the optimized production schedule is finally attained.In chapter 4, a network mode of process planning for RMS is constructed based on graph theory. Dijkstra algorithm and double-oriented scanning algorithm are used to select optimized and standby process planning.In chapter 5, a network mode of RMS' layout is designed based on queueing theory. Manufacturing system's productivity and the number of machine tools used in every working procedure are optimized. Therefore, an optimized system layout is obtained. Furthermore, to make the manufacturing system more flexible, the latest lattice mode layout is discussed.In chapter 6, the main results and conclusions of the thesis are summarized and the future work is prospected.