Ce travail concerne la production cyclique de pièces identiques dans un flow-shop robotisé. La Conjecture des 1-cycles, proposée par Sethi et al., suppose que le taux maximum de production peut être atteint en répétant un cycle particulier qui produit une seule pièce. Cette conjecture simplifie la recherche du meilleur cycle de production. Nous présentons de nouvelles preuves (approche par les graphes et approche algébrique) de la validité de cette conjecture pour des cellules à 2 et 3 machines et nous montrons qu'elle est fausse à partir de 4 machines. Nous délimitons ensuite plus précisément son cadre de validité en imposant des restrictions sur les paramètres : distances inter-machines égales ou temps d'usinage égaux. Puis, nous étudions d'autres formes de cellules robotisées en relaxant des contraintes de la cellule robotisée de base. La première variante est l'association de l'entrée et de la sortie de la cellule. Nous proposons quelques remarques sur la recherche du meilleur cycle de production. La deuxième variante est le HSP (Hoist Scheduling Problem) : le temps pendant lequel une pièce peut rester sur une machine admet une borne supérieure. Nous montrons que des propriétés des cellules robotisées ne peuvent pas être étendues au HSP. La troisième variante est l'ajout de zones de stockage entre les machines. Nous montrons que la Conjecture des 1-cycles est vraie et nous analysons le gain par rapport à une cellule sans stockage. Enfin, nous supposons que les distances inter-machines sont quelconques. Nous montrons que trouver le meilleur cycle de production d'une pièce est un problème NP-complet. Ce travail a permis de résoudre complètement une conjecture ouverte depuis 1989 et de décrire l'influence de la relaxation de certaines contraintes des cellules robotisées sur la recherche du meilleur cycle de production. La principale perspective est, pour les cas où la conjecture est fausse, de trouver le meilleur cycle de production.

L'évolution de l'environnement des entreprises a transformé la nature des relations entre elles, qui de simple relations d'achat entre clients et fournisseurs se sont transformées en des rapports plus contractualisés et plus durables. Ces derniers imposent à ces entreprises de revoir leurs méthodes de gestion et de production pour une meilleure synchronisation de leurs flux. Nous nous intéressons dans ce mémoire à une relation particulière entre clients et fournisseurs, celle fondée sur le principe de livraisons cycliques, selon lequel le fournisseur s 'engage à livrer des quantités de produits à des intervalles de temps fixes et de façon répétitive. L'intérêt de ce mode de livraison et qu'il permet, aux donneurs d'ordres, une gestion extrêmement simple des approvisionnements et facilite l'organisation des activités. Comme réponse à ce type de livraisons et afin de synchroniser leurs flux de production à ceux de livraisons, les entreprises adoptent la production cyclique. L'avantage de cette dernière est qu ;elle permet entre autres de réduire les coûts engendrés par la fabrication, et de simplifier l'organisation du travail. Notre travail consiste alors en l'évaluation et la mise en oeuvre d'un plan de production cyclique, pour un atelier de type Flow Shop pur fabricant plusieurs produits, lorsque les appels de livraisons sont cycliques. Nous proposons une nouvelle méthode déterminant un plan de production cyclique minimisant des coûts de lancements, coûts de stockage et des coûts de fabrication. Nous introduisons dans un premier temps le contexte -de notre travail en précisant les différentes hypothèses que 1 'on pose. Nous proposons par la suite une revue de la littérature sur les différents travaux réalisés, et proposons une classification des problèmes traitant de la production cyclique étudiés par la communauté scientifique. Nous exposons également la méthode que l'on propose pour la détermination d'un plan de production cyclique minimisant les différents coûts que l'on considère. Nous présentons une analyse des résultats issus de l'application de notre approche ainsi que ses variantes sur un ensemble de benchmarks générés aléatoirement et respectant les traits caractéristiques des problèmes réels. Nous réalisons une étude comparative d?s approches que l'on propose à 1 'une de celles proposées dans la littérature. Nous terminons ce mémoire par une conclusion et un ensemble de voies de recherches futures.

Wire Bonder and Molding are the most costive equipments in the investment of IC packaging; and the packaging quality, cost and delivery are concerned most in the assembly processes. An inappropriate process scheduling may result in the wastes of resources and assembly bottleneck. Manager must allocate the resources appropriately to adapt the changeable products and production lines. We would introduce several heuristic search methods, especially the Tabu search. Tabu search is one of the most popular methods of heuristic search. We also use Tabu list to record several latest moves and avoid to the duplication of the paths or loops. It starts from an initial solution and keep moving the solution to the best neighborhood without stock by Tabu. The iterations would be repeated until the terminating condition is reached. At last of the report, an example will be designed to approach the best wire bonding and molding scheduling by Tabu search; and verify the output volume is more than those with FIFO in the same period of production time. Tabu search will be then confirmed to be effective for flexible flow shop.

abstract: A good production schedule in a semiconductor back-end facility is critical for the on time delivery of customer orders. Compared to the front-end process that is dominated by re-entrant product flows, the back-end process is linear and therefore more suitable for scheduling. However, the production scheduling of the back-end process is still very difficult due to the wide product mix, large number of parallel machines, product family related setups, machine-product qualification, and weekly demand consisting of thousands of lots. In this research, a novel mixed-integer-linear-programming (MILP) model is proposed for the batch production scheduling of a semiconductor back-end facility. In the MILP formulation, the manufacturing process is modeled as a flexible flow line with bottleneck stages, unrelated parallel machines, product family related sequence-independent setups, and product-machine qualification considerations. However, this MILP formulation is difficult to solve for real size problem instances. In a semiconductor back-end facility, production scheduling usually needs to be done every day while considering updated demand forecast for a medium term planning horizon. Due to the limitation on the solvable size of the MILP model, a deterministic scheduling system (DSS), consisting of an optimizer and a scheduler, is proposed to provide sub-optimal solutions in a short time for real size problem instances. The optimizer generates a tentative production plan. Then the scheduler sequences each lot on each individual machine according to the tentative production plan and scheduling rules. Customized factory rules and additional resource constraints are included in the DSS, such as preventive maintenance schedule, setup crew availability, and carrier limitations. Small problem instances are randomly generated to compare the performances of the MILP model and the deterministic scheduling system. Then experimental design is applied to understand the behavior of the DSS and identify the best configuration of the DSS under different demand scenarios. Product-machine qualification decisions have long-term and significant impact on production scheduling. A robust product-machine qualification matrix is critical for meeting demand when demand quantity or mix varies. In the second part of this research, a stochastic mixed integer programming model is proposed to balance the tradeoff between current machine qualification costs and future backorder costs with uncertain demand. The L-shaped method and acceleration techniques are proposed to solve the stochastic model. Computational results are provided to compare the performance of different solution methods. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Industrial Engineering 2011

abstract: This research is motivated by a deterministic scheduling problem that is fairly common in manufacturing environments, where there are certain processes that call for a machine working on multiple jobs at the same time. An example of such an environment is wafer fabrication in the semiconductor industry where some stages can be modeled as batch processes. There has been significant work done in the past in the field of a single stage of parallel machines which process jobs in batches. The primary motivation behind this research is to extend the research done in this area to a two-stage flow-shop where jobs arrive with unequal ready times and belong to incompatible job families with the goal of minimizing total weighted tardiness. As a first step to propose solutions, a mixed integer mathematical model is developed which tackles the problem at hand. The problem is NP-hard and thus the developed mathematical program can only solve problem instances of smaller sizes in a reasonable amount of time. The next step is to build heuristics which can provide feasible solutions in polynomial time for larger problem instances. The basic nature of the heuristics proposed is time window decomposition, where jobs within a moving time frame are considered for batching each time a machine becomes available on either stage. The Apparent Tardiness Cost (ATC) rule is used to build batches, and is modified to calculate ATC indices on a batch as well as a job level. An improvisation to the above heuristic is proposed, where the heuristic is run iteratively, each time assigning start times of jobs on the second stage as due dates for the jobs on the first stage. The underlying logic behind the iterative approach is to improve the way due dates are estimated for the first stage based on assigned due dates for jobs in the second stage. An important study carried out as part of this research is to analyze the bottleneck stage in terms of its location and how it affects the performance measure. Extensive experimentation is carried out to test how the quality of the solution varies when input parameters are varied between high and low values. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Industrial Engineering 2012

Pessoas com deficiências possuem muitas dificuldades em participar do mercado de trabalho, possuindo uma taxa de desemprego bem maior do que a média populacional. Isso motiva o estudo de novos modos de produção que permitam incluir essas pessoas com baixo custo operacional. Neste trabalho é feito um estudo sobre a inclusão de pessoas com deficiências em flow shops com o objetivo de minimizar o makespan. Como flow shops normalmente possuem poucas máquinas, o foco do estudo é na inserção de um e dois trabalhadores. O problema é definido, são propostos modelos matemáticos e uma solução heurística para resolvê-lo, assim como instâncias de teste realistas. Nos testes computacionais a performance dos modelos e da heurística é avaliada e a utilidade prática deste modelo de inclusão é analisada. Nós concluímos que o problema pode ser resolvido de forma satisfatória e que a inclusão de trabalhadores com deficiêcia emn flow shops é economicamente viável. / Persons with disabilities have severe problems participating in the job market and their unemployment rate is usually much higher than the average of the population. This motivates the research of new modes of production which allow to include these persons at a low overhead. In this work we study the inclusion of persons with disabilities into flow shops with the objective of minimizing the makespan. Since flow shops usually have only a few machines, we focus on the inclusion of one and two workers. We define the problem, propose mathematical models and a heuristic solution, as well as realistic test instances. In computational tests we evaluate the performance of the models and the heuristic, and assess the utility of such a model of inclusion. We conclude that the problem can be solved satisfactorily, and that including workers with disabilities into flow shops is economically feasible.

Pessoas com deficiências possuem muitas dificuldades em participar do mercado de trabalho, possuindo uma taxa de desemprego bem maior do que a média populacional. Isso motiva o estudo de novos modos de produção que permitam incluir essas pessoas com baixo custo operacional. Neste trabalho é feito um estudo sobre a inclusão de pessoas com deficiências em flow shops com o objetivo de minimizar o makespan. Como flow shops normalmente possuem poucas máquinas, o foco do estudo é na inserção de um e dois trabalhadores. O problema é definido, são propostos modelos matemáticos e uma solução heurística para resolvê-lo, assim como instâncias de teste realistas. Nos testes computacionais a performance dos modelos e da heurística é avaliada e a utilidade prática deste modelo de inclusão é analisada. Nós concluímos que o problema pode ser resolvido de forma satisfatória e que a inclusão de trabalhadores com deficiêcia emn flow shops é economicamente viável. / Persons with disabilities have severe problems participating in the job market and their unemployment rate is usually much higher than the average of the population. This motivates the research of new modes of production which allow to include these persons at a low overhead. In this work we study the inclusion of persons with disabilities into flow shops with the objective of minimizing the makespan. Since flow shops usually have only a few machines, we focus on the inclusion of one and two workers. We define the problem, propose mathematical models and a heuristic solution, as well as realistic test instances. In computational tests we evaluate the performance of the models and the heuristic, and assess the utility of such a model of inclusion. We conclude that the problem can be solved satisfactorily, and that including workers with disabilities into flow shops is economically feasible.

Re-entrant permutation flow shop problems occur in practical applications such as wafer manufacturing, paint shops, mold and die processes and textile industry. A re-entrant material flow means that the production jobs need to visit at least one working station multiple times. A comprehensive review gives an overview of the literature on re-entrant scheduling. The influence of missing operations received just little attention so far and splitting the jobs into sublots was not examined in re-entrant permutation flow shops before. The computational complexity of makespan minimization in re-entrant permutation flow shop problems requires heuristic solution approaches for large problem sizes. The problem provides promising structural properties for the application of a variable neighborhood search because of the repeated processing of jobs on several machines. Furthermore the different characteristics of lot streaming and their impact on the makespan of a schedule are examined in this thesis and the heuristic solution methods are adjusted to manage the problem’s extension.

Neste trabalho será estudado um ambiente de produção que é freqüentemente encontrado na prática: o flowshop com múltiplos processadores. No caso estudado existem estágios em série e em cada estágio existe um número de máquinas idênticas em paralelo. Todas as tarefas devem ser processadas por todos os estágios. O objetivo é minimizar o atraso das tarefas. Primeiramente o problema foi abordado através de um método que programa as tarefas por estágio e em ordem direta, ou seja, do primeiro para o último estágio. Em seguida, foram desenvolvidas duas novas regras que utilizam o mesmo método de programação, porém consideram o ambiente como uma série de problemas de máquinas em paralelo. Uma das regras desenvolvidas tem como característica principal considerar estados futuros do sistema. Também foi desenvolvido um novo método de programação em ordem inversa, no qual as tarefas são programadas do último para o primeiro estágio. Este método apresenta melhor desempenho se comparado com o método de programação em ordem inversa da literatura. Por último foi desenvolvido um método de programação com foco no estágio gargalo, visto que este estágio pode impedir um bom fluxo das tarefas pelo sistema e resultar em uma conclusão tardia das mesmas. Este método é mais simples, rápido e tem resultados competitivos frente ao método com foco no gargalo da literatura. / This work considers a production environment that is frequently found in practice: the flexible flowshop. In the case studied, there are stages in series and in each stage there are a number of identical parallel machines. All jobs must be processed by all stages. The objective is to minimize the tardiness of jobs. First the problem was addressed by a method in which jobs are schedule forward, that is, from first to last stage. Two new rules were developed using this same method, but considering the environment as a series of parallel machines problems. One of the rules is able to consider future states of the system. It was also developed a new method in which jobs are scheduled backward, i.e., from last to first stage. This method shows better performance compared to the literature method. At last, it was developed a method that focus on the bottleneck stage scheduling (since this stage may prevent a good flow of jobs throughout the system and result in late completions). This method is simpler, faster and competitive next to the literature method.

Pessoas com deficiências possuem muitas dificuldades em participar do mercado de trabalho, possuindo uma taxa de desemprego bem maior do que a média populacional. Isso motiva o estudo de novos modos de produção que permitam incluir essas pessoas com baixo custo operacional. Neste trabalho é feito um estudo sobre a inclusão de pessoas com deficiências em flow shops com o objetivo de minimizar o makespan. Como flow shops normalmente possuem poucas máquinas, o foco do estudo é na inserção de um e dois trabalhadores. O problema é definido, são propostos modelos matemáticos e uma solução heurística para resolvê-lo, assim como instâncias de teste realistas. Nos testes computacionais a performance dos modelos e da heurística é avaliada e a utilidade prática deste modelo de inclusão é analisada. Nós concluímos que o problema pode ser resolvido de forma satisfatória e que a inclusão de trabalhadores com deficiêcia emn flow shops é economicamente viável. / Persons with disabilities have severe problems participating in the job market and their unemployment rate is usually much higher than the average of the population. This motivates the research of new modes of production which allow to include these persons at a low overhead. In this work we study the inclusion of persons with disabilities into flow shops with the objective of minimizing the makespan. Since flow shops usually have only a few machines, we focus on the inclusion of one and two workers. We define the problem, propose mathematical models and a heuristic solution, as well as realistic test instances. In computational tests we evaluate the performance of the models and the heuristic, and assess the utility of such a model of inclusion. We conclude that the problem can be solved satisfactorily, and that including workers with disabilities into flow shops is economically feasible.