Abstract
The complex process planning problem is modeled as a combinatorial optimization problem with constraints in this paper. An ant colony optimization (ACO) approach has been developed to deal with process planning problem by simultaneously considering activities such as sequencing operations, selecting manufacturing resources, and determining setup plans to achieve the optimal process plan. A weighted directed graph is conducted to describe the operations, precedence constraints between operations, and the possible visited path between operation nodes. A representation of process plan is described based on the weighted directed graph. Ant colony goes through the necessary nodes on the graph to achieve the optimal solution with the objective of minimizing total production costs (TPC). Two cases have been carried out to study the influence of various parameters of ACO on the system performance. Extensive comparative experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed approach.
Highlights
Process planning is the function which translates the design requirements into the detailed technologically feasible instructions, which involves selecting machining operations, sequencing these operations, choosing manufacturing resources, determining setup plans, machining parameters, and so forth
This paper focuses on the solution of the third activity and presents an ant colony optimization (ACO) approach to solve the process planning problem
When ACO is applied in process planning, those parameters including K, ρ, α, β, E, Q, τ0 have to be adjusted according to the situation to achieve the optimal process plan
Summary
Process planning is the function which translates the design requirements into the detailed technologically feasible instructions, which involves selecting machining operations, sequencing these operations, choosing manufacturing resources, determining setup plans, machining parameters, and so forth. These activities must be carried out simultaneously to achieve an optimal process plan. This paper focuses on the solution of the third activity and presents an ACO approach to solve the process planning problem.
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