Title: A knowledge-based approach for calculating setup times

Authors: Miao Wenming, Chen Yong, Chen Guanlong, Lin Zhongqin

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China

Abstract: The production mode of high variety and small batches is very popular because it can satisfy various and rapidly changing demands from customers. High variety results in the large and high increasing numbers of product type, which make the traditional Bill-of-Material (BOM) unapplicable because the traditional BOM means a type of item has a unique item number. Earlier researches showed Generic BOM (GBOM) is suitable for this environment. Small batch means the more frequent adjustment of machines, which make setup times to be a un-neglected factor in scheduling. Earlier approaches to obtain setup times are to enumerate all setup times according to experience knowledge. Those approaches should be based on the traditional BOM when they are implemented. As a result, they are not applicable for the high variety and small batch environment. Consequently, after the introduction of GBOM, a knowledge-based approach is proposed to calculate setup times in this paper. And the implementation algorithm is presented then. An application case shows our approach is an applicable one.

Keywords: setup times; knowledge-based systems; KBS; GBOM; generic BOM; bill of material; high variety; small batch; scheduling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2010.031941

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2010 Vol.37 No.3/4, pp.257 - 267

Published online: 03 Mar 2010 *

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