An adapted NSGA-II algorithm for a reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) design under machines reliability constraints

Abstract

In this chapter, we consider the reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) design context and focus on machines selection problem. The problem consists in selecting among a set of potential reconfigurable machines those to be used in the production process of a single product type P. The product P is described by a set of features; each feature requires a certain number of operations to be realized. All the operations may be processed on a variety of machines having different configurations. Each operation is assigned to the machine with the appropriate configuration and the specific tool approach direction (TAD). We assume that a failure may occur after the reconfiguration of each machine. Consequently, the reliability level of each machine M decreases as the number of configuration’s change increases. Two objective functions are considered respectively the minimization of the total cost including machine using cost, machine maintenance cost and the maximization of the reconfiguration index based on the global capacity of reconfiguration of the system and the reconfigurability required by the product to manufacture. To solve the problem, an adapted version of the NSGA-II algorithm is developed and a numerical example is presented to illustrate the applicability of the adapted algorithm.