A hyper-heuristic algorithm-based automatic monorail shuttle system for material feeding optimization in mixed-model assembly lines

In recent years, the automotive industry has witnessed the increasing adoption of mixed-model assembly lines (MMALs) to meet the demands of mass customization. However, the diverse components of various end products are posing significant challenges to the material feeding processes in MMALs. To add...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft computing (Berlin, Germany) Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 3083 - 3105
Main Authors: Zhou, Binghai, Zhao, Lingwei
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2024
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Accuracy
Algorithms
Artificial Intelligence
Assembly lines
Automation
Automobile industry
Computational Intelligence
Control
Convergence
Costs
COVID-19
Efficiency
Engineering
Feeding
Heuristic
Heuristic methods
Installation costs
Literature reviews
Mathematical Logic and Foundations
Mathematical models
Mechatronics
Monorails
Optimization
Pandemics
Performance evaluation
Robotics
Shuttles
Supermarkets
Work stations
Load-exchangeable shuttle
Intelligent scheduling
Shuffled frog leaping algorithm
Line-integrated supermarket
Cost control
ISSN:1432-7643, 1433-7479
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In recent years, the automotive industry has witnessed the increasing adoption of mixed-model assembly lines (MMALs) to meet the demands of mass customization. However, the diverse components of various end products are posing significant challenges to the material feeding processes in MMALs. To address this issue and enhance the material feeding efficiency, this paper proposes an innovative automatic monorail shuttle system (AMSS). The AMSS is designed based on the layout of line-integrated supermarkets and incorporates the load-exchangeable shuttles and crossovers. Considering the importance of cost control in manufacturing enterprises, the objective of this paper is to minimize the total costs associated with the material feeding system, which includes the installation costs of crossovers, as well as the input and operation costs of load-exchangeable shuttles. A mathematical model is thereby established to describe the problem, and its accuracy is validated through the Gurobi solver. Recognizing the NP-hard nature of the proposed problem, a shuffled frog leaping-based hyper-heuristic (SBHH) algorithm is developed to allocate and schedule the shuttles and crossovers, which adopts the shuffled frog leaping algorithm as the high-level heuristic for selecting low-level heuristics. To further improve the performance, dynamic decision unit is introduced to raise the solution accuracy and the convergence speed. Simulation results verify the superiority of the proposed SBHH algorithm both in solution quality and convergence speed by comparing with other benchmark optimization algorithms. Managerial applications indicate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed approach, offering implications for practitioners in the automotive industry.
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ISSN:1432-7643
1433-7479
DOI:10.1007/s00500-023-09268-5