Abstract

NAIDOO, E.; PADAYACHEE, J.  and  BRIGHT, G.. A multi-stage optimisation method for the management of an on-demand fixture manufacturing cell for mass customisation production systems. S. Afr. J. Ind. Eng. [online]. 2018, vol.29, n.2, pp.52-64. ISSN 2224-7890.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7166/29-2-1824.

The implementation of reconfigurable fixtures is a major facilitator of mass customisation. Traditional scheduling techniques do not consider reconfigurable fixtures comprehensively. This paper describes a multi-stage optimisation method that manages the recirculation of reconfigurable fixtures in a mass customisation production system. The method was based on an on-demand fixture manufacturing cell that served a part processing cell. The method consists of three stages: using established techniques such as k-means clustering and hierarchical clustering; and a novel mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to optimise operation sequences. Minimisation of total idle time (and thus makespan) was used as the measure of performance.

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