Single-purpose Machines Research Articles

Dynamic Events in the Flexible Job-Shop Scheduling Problem: Rescheduling with a Hybrid Metaheuristic Algorithm

In the real world of manufacturing systems, production planning is crucial for organizing and optimizing various manufacturing process components. The objective of this paper is to present a methodology for both static scheduling and dynamic scheduling. In the proposed method, a hybrid algorithm is utilized to optimize the static flexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) and dynamic flexible job-shop scheduling problem (DFJSP). This algorithm integrates the genetic algorithm (GA) as a global optimization technique with a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm serving as a local search optimization approach to accelerate convergence and prevent getting stuck in local minima. Additionally, variable neighborhood search (VNS) is utilized for efficient neighborhood search within this hybrid algorithm framework. For the FJSP, the proposed hybrid algorithm is simulated on a 40-benchmark dataset to evaluate its performance. Comparisons among the proposed hybrid algorithm and other algorithms are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, ensuring that the proposed hybrid algorithm can efficiently solve the FJSP, with 38 out of 40 instances demonstrating better results. The primary objective of this study is to perform dynamic scheduling on two datasets, including both single-purpose machine and multi-purpose machine datasets, using the proposed hybrid algorithm with a rescheduling strategy. By observing the results of the DFJSP, dynamic events such as a single machine breakdown, a single job arrival, multiple machine breakdowns, and multiple job arrivals demonstrate that the proposed hybrid algorithm with the rescheduling strategy achieves significant improvement and the proposed method obtains the best new solution, resulting in a significant decrease in makespan.

Application of Selected Reverse Engineering Procedures Based on Specific Requirements

Abstract The paper describes a solution of reverse engineering tasks using the equipment of the laboratory of the Technical University in Zvolen. The first task was linked to evaluation of a wear rate of the tool used to for mulching and elimination of unwanted wood or weed vegetation. The obtained data will be used as a base line for determination of the time interval for the tool replacement. We developed a prototype of components and their drawing documentation for a single-purpose machine for cutting barley. We created the 3D model using the method of photogrammetry. The finished drawing documentation and prototypes were handed over to the company KRUP. Finally, we identified the most suitable procedures for creating a model of a part with a complex shape. We tested the techniques of editing the point cloud processing, as well as of smoothing the surfaces and automating the creation of partial geometric elements of the model. Based on the properties of the component, which is the starting point of the entire reverse engineering process and from the achieved results, we set recommendations for the selection of appropriate procedures.

ENHANCEMENT OF SPECIALISED VERTICAL TURNING LATHE ACCURACY THROUGH MINIMISATION OF THERMAL ERRORS DEPENDING ON TURNING AND MILLING OPERATIONS

Achieving high workpiece accuracy is a long-term goal of machine tool designers. There are many causes of workpiece inaccuracy, with thermal errors being the most dominant. Indirect compensation (using predictive models) is a promising strategy for reducing thermal errors without increasing machine tool cost. A modelling approach using thermal transfer functions (a dynamic method with a physical basis) embodies the potential to deal with this issue. The method does not require interventions into the machine tool structure, uses a minimum of additional gauges and its modelling and calculation speed is suitable for real-time applications with fine results with up to 80% thermal error reduction. Advanced machine tool thermal error compensation models have been successfully applied on various kinds of single-purpose machines (milling, turning, floor-type, etc.) and implemented directly into their control systems. This research reflects modern trends in machine tool usage and as such is focused on the applicability of the modelling approach to describe specialised vertical turning lathe versatility. The specialised vertical turning lathe is adequately capable of carrying out turning and milling operations. Calibration of the reliable compensation model is a real challenge. The applicability of the approach during immediate switching between turning and milling operations is discussed in more detail.

Unsupervised Cell Segmentation and Labelling in Neural Tissue Images

Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of largely incurable disorders characterised by the progressive loss of neurons and for which often the molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. To bridge this gap, researchers employ a range of techniques. A very prominent and useful technique adopted across many different fields is imaging and the analysis of histopathological and fluorescent label tissue samples. Although image acquisition has been efficiently automated recently, automated analysis still presents a bottleneck. Although various methods have been developed to automate this task, they tend to make use of single-purpose machine learning models that require extensive training, imposing a significant workload on the experts and introducing variability in the analysis. Moreover, these methods are impractical to audit and adapt, as their internal parameters are difficult to interpret and change. Here, we present a novel unsupervised automated schema for object segmentation of images, exemplified on a dataset of tissue images. Our schema does not require training data, can be fully audited and is based on a series of understandable biological decisions. In order to evaluate and validate our schema, we compared it with a state-of-the-art automated segmentation method for post-mortem tissues of ALS patients.

Design of Automatic Assembly Station for Industrial Vehicles Parts

Abstract Automated production and assembly lines can be considered a crucial factor in accelerating the production processes and achieving the maximum financial savings. In particular, specialized single-purpose machines can significantly reduce production or assembly time. The submitted article presents a design of a single-purpose device that is used for the automated assembly of a roller bush with a screw. These components are then used for construction and agricultural vehicles to attach other components. Naturally, the design of this specific device is more demanding in terms of time consumption, precision, detail and initial investment than similar less complicated all-purpose devices. Nevertheless, single-purpose devices turn out to be a better option in the sense of quality and profit both in the long-term and high-capacity projects, such as automotive industry, agricultural and construction machinery. The best alternative was selected from several proposals using the evaluation method. The assembly machine was designed and optimized using Computer Aided Design systems and Finite Element Method analyses. The resulting equipment was used in practice, where it significantly increased the productivity and production efficiency.

Design of an automated line for pressing cylindrical bushings with screws

In the automotive industry, automated production and assembly lines are now used for the production of individual components. In particular, specialized single-purpose machines can incredibly shorten production or assembly time.This article deals with the design of a single-purpose device that is used for automated assembly of a roller bush with a screw. This assembly is subsequently used in the automotive heavy industry, resp. in agricultural and construction machinery.

Study on efficient control of swarm robot using mobile agents and swarm intelligence

Automation of tasks is a rapidly evolving process. The expansion of robots into industry has been ongoing for some time. Automation of factories and industrial processes has increased productivity and also meant humans no longer have to engage in dangerous, back-breaking labour. While the robots taking over this work have mostly been large, single purpose machines designed to carry out one or two functions, there is a growing demand for smaller, lighter and more flexible robots. These machines are being built to work as cooperative swarms or fleets. In this way they can be distributed in an environment and through communication networks maintain contact and coordinated function. This flexibility and small size again mean they can replace humans when tasks are either too dangerous or physically impossible for a person to complete. The hardware side of this technology is largely in place, however, the challenge now is how best to coordinate the movements of multiple robots remotely. Professor Yasushi Kambayashi and a team of researchers based at the Department of Computer and Information Engineering, Nippon Institute of Technology in Japan, is developing a new, decentralised control system that takes inspiration from social insects like ants.

Thermal Error Minimization of a Turning-Milling Center with Respect to its Multi-Functionality

Achieving high workpiece accuracy is a long-term goal of machine tool designers. Many causes can explain workpiece inaccuracy, with thermal errors being the most dominant. Indirect compensation (using predictive models) is a promising thermal error reduction strategy that does not increase machine tool costs. A modeling approach using transfer functions (i.e., a dynamic method with a physical basis) has the potential to deal with this issue. The method does not require any intervention into the machine tool structure, uses a minimum of additional gauges, and its modeling and calculation speed are suitable for real-time applications that result in as much as 80% thermal error reduction. Compensation models for machine tool thermal errors using transfer functions have been successfully applied to various kinds of single-purpose machines (milling, turning, floor-type, etc.) and have been implemented directly into their control systems. The aim of this research is to describe modern trends in machine tool usage and focuses on the applicability of the modeling approach to describe the multi-functionality of a turning-milling center. A turning-milling center is capable of adequately handling turning, milling, and boring operations. Calibrating a reliable compensation model is a real challenge. Options for reducing modeling and calibration time, an approach to include machine tool multi-functionality in the model structure, model transferability between different machines of the same type, and model verification out of the calibration range are discussed in greater detail.

Development of technology and manufacturing of an import-substituting complex of machines for cultivating crops

A variety of topography, climate, vegetation and soil of the Southern Urals indicates the need to choose the technology and complex of machines for cultivating crops in accordance with the conditions of the zone and economy. Analysis of existing crop cultivation technologies showed the need for their improvement. To ensure the possibility of changing the methods of soil cultivation and sowing depending on soil and climatic conditions, the cultivated crop and the place of culture in crop rotation, a universal technology is proposed, which provides for the need to create conditions for growth and development of plants based on accumulation and economical use of moisture with application of working bodies and a complex of tillage and sowing machines appropriate to the conditions of the zone. The types of working bodies for basic, additional and presowing tillage and sowing of agricultural crops by various methods are substantiated. The degree of universalization of combined machines for farms with different areas of arable land is established. For small farms with arable land up to 1200 ha, one universal machine with replaceable working bodies or modules is needed to perform primary, secondary and pre-sowing tillage and sowing. For medium-sized farms with arable land up to 10 thousand hectares, separate universal machines with replaceable working bodies are needed for primary tillage, with replaceable modules for additional tillage, and tillage sowing machines with replaceable modules with different types of working bodies are necessary for pre-sowing tillage and sowing. For large farms with arable land area of over 10 thousand hectares it is necessary to use combined single-purpose machines. Based on the previously conducted studies, using the obtained mathematical models and agrotechnical requirements for developing new machines, calculations were carried out and the design parameters of machine complex for tractors of 1.4...5 traction class were substantiated. They were produced by LLC Chelyabinsk Compressor Plant and Varnaagromash LLC with various degrees of universalization The complex of machines for cultivating agricultural crops developed and produced at these plants for various types of farms makes it possible to fulfil all the elements of the proposed technology adopted in the zone in accordance with the agrotechnical requirements as well as soil and climatic conditions of the zone.

Method of determination of survival characteristics of weapons and military equipment

In order to repel armed aggression in the East of Ukraine, the national defense-industrial complex has modernized and developed a significant nomenclature of weapons and military equipment, which correspond to the forms and methods of conducting modern hostilities. Experience of using the samples of weapons and military equipment, which are allowed to exploitation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, indicates on the necessity of resolving a number of problematic issues related to tecnical maintenance, repair, providing of logistical means etc., for keeping them in working order
 Keeping the samples of weapons and military equipment in working order in conditions of fightfare is determined by the number of factors, the one of which is their survivability, namely ability of sample of weapons and military equipment to keep their parameters in given limits,withstand damage of all kinds, and in the event of damage retain the possibility of combat use after repair with minimal cost of time and repair.
 The article proposes a technique for determining the survivability characteristics of a sample of weapons and military equipment. This technique makes it possible to determine the durability and reproducibility indices of weapons and military equipment samples thereby determining the survivability of a particular weapons and military equipment sample or group of single-purpose machines.

Synthesis of methods and principles of ensuring the reliability of one-off and serial production machines

The paper considers the development of methods for managing the reliability of single-production machines (lunar rover, rover, rolling mill, president’s car of the country, etc.). Many years of experience in the field of machine reliability allowed the leading specialists of the department of AS and DS to develop a method for managing reliability for serial and mass machines. in the case of evaluating the reliability of single-production machines, development of algorithms based on sample data and data obtained during the transition from the sample to the set of values was carried out. The resource of the parts is defined as the main parameter, which, irrespective of their purpose, form the sampled samples of units of finite volume. Given that the main parameter of the details the resource depends on the strength and loading parameters, the correlation between the strength parameters and the acting stresses (endurance limit, active stress in the dangerous section, strength increase coefficients and the coefficient of increasing the acting voltage) is used in the studies. In such conditions, the estimated resource should relate to each entity of the population or a sample from it. During the research, a parameter is defined as the minimum resource that will determine the homogeneity of the sample (the aggregate), while the main condition for ensuring the same main parameters of parts with sudden failures is the Veler-Sørensen-Kogayev formula based on the experimental initial fatigue and loading statistics . Thus, a method has been developed to ensure the reliability of single-source machines, based on the synthesis of two methods and principles for serial and single-purpose machines.

A Computational Study of Continuous and Discrete Time Formulations for a Class of Short-Term Scheduling Problems for Multipurpose Plants

A key decision in scheduling problems is deciding when to perform certain operations, and the quality of solutions depends on how time is represented. The two main classes of time representation are discrete-time approaches (with uniform or nonuniform discretization schemes) and continuous-time approaches. In this work, we compare the performance of these two classes for short-term scheduling of multipurpose facilities with single purpose machines, constant processing times, discrete batches, material splitting, multitasking, and no batch mixing. In addition, the different discretization schemes were compared against each other. We show that, for the modeling framework proposed in this work, the selected discrete-time formulation typically obtained higher quality solutions, and required less time to solve as compared to the selected continuous-time formulation, as the continuous-time formulation exhibited detrimental trade-off between computational time and solution quality. We also show that within the s...

Communication and knowledge sharing in human–robot interaction and learning from demonstration

Inexpensive personal robots will soon become available to a large portion of the population. Currently, most consumer robots are relatively simple single-purpose machines or toys. In order to be cost effective and thus widely accepted, robots will need to be able to accomplish a wide range of tasks in diverse conditions. Learning these tasks from demonstrations offers a convenient mechanism to customize and train a robot by transferring task related knowledge from a user to a robot. This avoids the time-consuming and complex process of manual programming. The way in which the user interacts with a robot during a demonstration plays a vital role in terms of how effectively and accurately the user is able to provide a demonstration. Teaching through demonstrations is a social activity, one that requires bidirectional communication between a teacher and a student. The work described in this paper studies how the user's visual observation of the robot and the robot's auditory cues affect the user's ability to teach the robot in a social setting. Results show that auditory cues provide important knowledge about the robot's internal state, while visual observation of a robot can hinder an instructor due to incorrect mental models of the robot and distractions from the robot's movements.

Quantum machines

We discuss quantum information processing machines. We start with single purpose machines that either redistribute quantum information or identify quantum states. We then move on to machines that can perform a number of functions, with the function they perform being determined by a program, which is itself a quantum state. Examples of both deterministic and probabilistic programmable machines are given, and we conclude with a discussion of the utility of quantum programs.

“Made in Maine” at the Maine State Museum, Augusta

Exhibit Reviews “MADE IN MAINE” AT THE MAINE STATE MUSEUM, AUGUSTA DUNCAN HAY On October 20, 1985, the Maine State Museum opened “Made in Maine,” an exhibit on 19th-century manufacturing that represents the institution’s largest research, collecting, and exhibition undertaking to date. For four years “Made in Maine” consumed nearly all the energies of the museum’s staff, along with $400,000 in construction costs. However, payoffs for citizens of Maine, the museum commu­ nity, and scholars of industrial history more than justify this initial cost. The exhibit superbly demonstrates the variety, pervasiveness, and duration of manufacturing in the state, broadening outsiders’ perceptions of Maine as simply a region of forests, seacoast, tourists, and potatoes. When contemplating a major exhibit some years ago, the Maine State Museum staff took stock of its historical collections. As at other state museums, the bulk of the holdings represented goods manufac­ tured within the state’s boundaries. Logically, Maine-made goods and tools of Maine trades became the basis of the new installation. That effort, in turn, further focused the institution’s collections and research activities on artifacts of industrial production. Curators worked aggressively to add to a somewhat eclectic collection. Pros­ pects for immediate exhibition encouraged the acquisition of large objects—a cupola furnace, power looms, carding machines, a spin­ ning jack, and other artifacts that would strain storage space and might have been passed by under other circumstances.' Beyond a strong collections base, clever design and innovative use of space contribute to the exhibit’s effectiveness. After being issued a guidebook and seeing a thoughtful introductory selection of artifacts and historical images that show the nature and variety of Maine manDr . Hay is curator of industrial and maritime history at the New York State Museum in Albany. 'Paul Rivard, “Made in Maine: A Case Study in History Museum Exhibit Develop­ ment,” InternationalJournal ofMuseum Management and Curatorship 7 (1988): 330.© 1990 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040-165X/90/3103-0005$01.00 456 “Made in Maine” at the Maine State Museum, Augusta 457 ufacturing (see fig. 1), visitors encounter a series of descending ramps that lead past reconstructions of a dozen work environments. These industrial equivalents of period-room settings are supplemented by cases of Maine-made goods. The ramps run down in a squared spiral around the building’s perimeter, with workplaces and cases against the outside walls. A waterpowered woodworking shop, shown manufac­ turing wheelbarrows, shingles, and barrel staves, rises through all three levels of the spiral’s open center. Water issuing from a turbine, sunk in a wheel pit some 16 feet below the lowest floor level, appears to drive shafts and belts throughout the entire structure. Work-space reconstructions are conspicuously underlabeled. Rather than clutter exhibits with text and diminish their veracity as recon­ structions, the museum’s planners compiled object labels and linked them to drawings in the guidebook.2 Only a spare and very general introductory paragraph is included in each case. “Made in Maine” is less an exhibit of products than of their manufacturing environments. Goods made by Maine workers are in, and adjacent to, the dozen discrete productive settings. In an attempt to have particular reconstructions stand for entire classes of manu­ facturing, work environments are grouped in the categories of home, shop, mill, and factory—an arrangement similar to that used by Victor S. Clark in his 1929 History ofManufacturers.3 In home produc­ tion, represented by textile work around an 1820 kitchen hearth and outwork garment production in an 1880 parlor (fig. 2), the emphasis is on manufacturing as an integral component of domestic activities. Shop settings reflect the segregation of manufacturing and home life and the importance of benchwork. They are typified by a reconstruc­ tion of John H. Hall’s 1816 gun shop, a transplanted section of Bangor’s Thomas Fishing Rod Company, and generic representations of cabinet, blacksmith, and shoe shops. Mills and furnaces are defined in this exhibit as specialized structures that essentially serve as single-purpose machines for the production of a particular class of products. An 1830 wool fulling and finishing mill and an 1890 cupola furnace from...

On the Line: Essays in the History of Auto Work ed. by Nelson Lichtenstein, Stephen Meyer

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 317 hemoths. One could argue, for example, that the big three’s commitment to massive cars originated in GM’s redefinition of auto marketing in the 1920s. “Sloanism” combined GM’s mix oflow- to high-priced models with advertising that emphasized the automobile as status symbol. Sloanist marketing climaxed each year in the spectacular striptease of the fall model unveilings, a social ritual in which Chrysler and Ford soon par­ ticipated with full vigor. From this perspective, Sloanism represents an economically rational response to the 1920s saturation of the virgin car market. To sustain mass- production profitability, manufacturers had to wean consumers from Ford’s unchanging (and unstylish) Model T and to whet their appetite for next year’s sexy arrivals. Davis also ignores a key dimension of Henry Ford’s motivation. While Ford’s Model T clearly “democratized” automobile ownership during its heyday, Ford’s other great innovation—the moving assem­ bly line—moved in a radically undemocratic direction as skilled artisans were replaced by highly regulated line workers whose adult judgment about the production process was treated with contempt. Davis rightly calls attention to Ford’s hostility toward Detroit’s elite class, but he ignores Ford paternalism, best seen in his mix of house visitations to Americanize immigrant workers and his notorious antiunion spy system. Ford’s passion for dictatorial control dwarfs, for me at least, his maverick identification with the common man. Davis gives us a fascinating close reading of the tangled and tumultuous relationships of Detroit’s changing automotive aristoc­ racy. He successfully challenges the paradigm that sees the early industry as the preserve of poorly capitalized, self-made entrepre­ neurs. For that we stand in his debt. By demonstrating the connection between the social status of auto manufacturers and the cars they produced, he enhances our awareness of the power of the automobile as an American symbol. Finally, his study provides a provocative explanation for Detroit’s peculiar and troubled fortunes after 1930. Unfortunately, Davis’s love affair with his conspicuous production model mars his reading of this endlessly fascinating and complex chapter in America’s technological history. John M. Staudenmaier, S.J. Dr. Staudenmaier is associate professor of the history of technology at the University of Detroit. On the Line: Essays in the History of Auto Work. Edited by Nelson Lichtenstein and Stephen Meyer. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1989. Pp. 256; illustrations, notes, index. $32.50 (cloth); $12.95 (paper). This collection of nine original essays has much to recommend it to students of the history of labor, technology, business, and industrial 318 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE relations. It should also interest readers concerned with the future of the American economy and its industrial work force. Although the focus of each essay varies, the volume attains unity through a continuing attention to the issue of fordism, the integrated, contin­ uous flow system of mass production that relied on single-purpose machines, minute division of labor, and specialization of task and was historically associated with the employment of large numbers of unskilled immigrant workers. These essays are devoted to a multifac­ eted analysis of the relationship between Fordism, the development of technology, and the particular history and culture of auto workers, managers, and inventors. The result is an analysis of the nature of automobile work that sees it as “the product not only of market forces and technological change but also of the social consciousness and political choices auto workers and auto managers bring to the production process” (p. 14). Nelson Lichtenstein and Stephen Meyer are to be particularly commended for highlighting the value of a comparative approach to labor history. Their collection opens with an essay by Wayne Lewchuk which concludes that, starting with the same technology but employ­ ing very different workers, America developed Fordism, and Britain a system of worker self-management. In the final essay, Jonathan Zeitlin and Steven Tolliday reexamine the prevailing view that British auto workers exercised shop-floor power and Americans did not. Arguing that American historians have greatly exaggerated the extent of British workers’ shop-floor power, Zeitlin and Tolliday also argue that American workers developed power over the shop...

Review Lecture: Mechanization of the assembly process in medium and small batch production

Up until now, really successful mechanization of the assembly cf manufactured goods has been confined to high-volume production in which a million or more assemblies per year are required for a period of several years. Here, single-purpose machines, despite their high capital cost, can often compete successfully, on purely economic grounds, with manned assembly lines. However, the number of products which are manufactured in such quantities is relatively few. Consequently, in an attempt to meet the need to increase the Gross National Product and overall productivity, engineers are now devising ways and means of mechanizing the assembly of some, at least, of the products which are manufactured in medium and even small batches. This paper describes the work being carried out in this area by the Automatic Processes Group in the Department of Production Engineering and Production Management at the University of Nottingham. Clearly, in order to move down the scale of production volume, the first step is to minimize the machine building costs. This can be done by standardization of as many features of the machines as possible so that the advantages of batch manufacturing techniques can be obtained. ‘Specially engineered’ features have to be minimized.

Machine Tool Simplification, Especially as Applied to Horizontal Boring Machines

The author believes that simplification, while it must not be regarded as the panacea for all the ills of our industry, can if correctly applied be of immense benefit and that, though much has been said and written on the subject, few practical examples of its application in design and manufacture have been made available. The early history of machine tools is reviewed in this paper, and as the horizontal boring machine incorporates the general features of most machine tools it is used as a typical example. Some suggestions are made on the subject of simplification from the aspect of design, and practical examples are given of its application to patterns, castings, machining, lubrication, controls, measuring systems, and electrical equipment. Single-purpose machines, tool equipment, and accessories are also examined. It is proposed that the maximum advantage cannot be gained from a process of simplification unless a high degree of standardization is accepted, and therefore in reviewing the design of a complete range of horizontal boring machines a new principle of unit construction is explored in theory and practice. Examples are given of the application of this unit system to all sizes of horizontal boring machines, including the universal type. The paper concludes with a description of a new slideway grinding machine generally constructed from standard units.

Single-purpose machine tools for difficult operations

Single-purpose machine tools for difficult operations

Single-purpose machine tools for difficult operations

Single-purpose machine tools for difficult operations