Hybrid Production: Enabled By Controlling The Output Sequence Of A Matrix Production Using Answer Set Programming

Abstract

Combining a line production with a matrix production into a hybrid production is a vivid field of research to cope with the challenges of mass personalization. Nevertheless, to implement a hybrid system, several challenges have to be overcome. For a line production, a predefined sequence of products is necessary in order to handle variants at all. In a matrix production, workstations can be skipped or variants have different processing times that result in non-deterministic sequences. This leads to the main challenge in such a hybrid system, to control the output sequence of the flexible system in order to continue the production in a line segment.Answer set programming is a declarative problem-solving approach, presenting a foundation for solving highly constrained combinatorial problems. Based on a formal description of the problem, a solver generates all its possible solutions.This paper presents a novel approach for the production scheduling of a flexible system using answer set programming. The developed approach is able to create a production schedule for a matrix production that obeys the necessary output sequence for the input of the subsequent production line. The result is a production schedule allocating workstations, employees, components, and automated guided vehicles to each operation of a specific job. Furthermore, it is now possible to have two production lines entering the flexible segment and merging them into one outgoing production line and vice versa, while value-adding operations are performed.