Simulation And Optimization Of Crankshaft Workshop Based On Witness

For the modern production, it is one of the major concerns for the enterprises tofind ways to improve the equipment utilization in the manufacturing workshops, toimprove the product quality and to reduce the production cost so as to improve theproduction efficiency. The key to achieve these mainly depends on the enterpriseproduction scheduling strategy. The object of this study is Weihai Tianrun CrankshaftCo., Ltd. Different processing techniques are required for one machine in productionbecause of the complexity of the crankshaft structure. Thus the workshop schedulingtask will easily be increased and the difficulty in the equipment selection will also beincreased. With poor scheduling, the waiting time for the workpiece to be processedwill be longer, and therefore it will be more difficult for the crankshaft production linescheduling. In order to improve the running efficiency of the production line, it is notenough to take the scheduling of only one device into consideration. Severalscheduling strategies and the simulation model should be considered together. Theadvantage is that the simulation results are clear and the quality of the schedulingstrategy can be verified through the results of the simulation modeling. In the study,the simulation is based on the analysis of the six-cylinder steel shaft production line ofTianrun Co., Ltd., and the genetic algorithm is used in the solving and analysis of thescheduling problem.(1) Build the simulation model of the six-cylinder steel shaft production line ofTianrun Co., Ltd. based on Witness. To meet the simulation requirements,simplification of the complex and unstable reality should be done, then the proposedconstraint conditions are given. Each sub-model is built before the total productionline model’s establishment.(2) The scheduling strategy based on the complexity of the crankshaft productionline is adopted, and it is different from the traditional workshop scheduling strategyfor it is neither for the single production line nor for the Job Shop, but for thescheduling of the complex production system.(3) Characteristics of Tianrun crankshaft production system is analyzed, and thescheduling problem is simplified into a search for the optimal feeding way and thebest processing sequence. Each feeding way and processing sequence in thesimulation model is solved and analysed, and their advantages and disadvantages arelisted. (4) Genetic algorithm is adopted to solve Tianrun six-cylinder steel shaftproduction line scheduling problem, meanwhile with the Witness software, thescheduling strategy is encoded for this algorithm. The algorithm is adopted tocalculate and analyse different feeding ways and processing sequences to improve theproduct quality and reduce the production cost, so as to improve the productionefficiency.