A multi-stage optimisation method for the management of an on-demand fixture manufacturing cell for mass customisation production systems

Abstract

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.