The navigation process of mould-manufacturing scheduling optimisation by applying genetic algorithm

Abstract

Plastic injection mould manufacturing process is a job-shop scheduling problem (JSSP) and a non-polynomial (NP) problem. This study developed a mould-manufacturing scheduling navigation system in which the genetic algorithm (GA) was applied to optimise the mould-manufacturing scheduling problem. A navigation process ranging for manufacturing process planning and manufacturing scheduling was planned, and scheduling management was planned, while considering the processing restrictions needed to effectively manage and arrange all the components to be processed in a more reasonable way. The study used the searching capabilities of GA for determining the sequence of component processing with limited machines during mould manufacturing, and computed the makespan of the components currently planned in the factory. Compared with the makespan of manual planning in real cases, the proposed system can save up to 50% of the working time, and the quality of the solution can provide production management staff with a better reference in improving actual scheduling jobs. The proposed system can be used to effectively plan and manage component processes, accelerate the scheduling and shorten mould manufacturing time, in order to achieve the objectives of reducing the production cost and improving the competitiveness of an enterprise.