Abstract:
Wispeco Aluminium decided to reduce a double line aluminium anodising plant to
a single line. This change forces the anodising plant to run at maximum capacity. To
be able to run at maximum capacity, it is suggested that a production schedule be put
in place to optimise the movement of the cranes and minimise the makespan of a day's
work.
Production scheduling literature, including the popular / /
notation was in-
vestigated to assist with identifying the characteristics of the relevant problem. An
important characteristic that was identi ed is that the anodising problem is a
ow shop
problem. Once these characteristics were identi ed, peer-reviewed articles were investi-
gated to identify similar problems. An article was identi ed which addresses the multiple
cranes that cannot cross over one another, the
ow shop characteristic and the parallel
machines. This article was used to start formulating an algorithmic model as solution.
This algorithm was coded in Python. To ensure that the results generated by the algo-
rithm are relevant and correct, the results were compared to actual time-studies. The
model tested the in
uence of three heuristic scheduling approaches on the makespan of
the products. The heuristics tested were FIFO, Priority orders and Shortest Processing
Times. The results compared over three production days indicated that the schedule
does not have a large impact on the makespan of a day's work. This project suggests
that the scheduling on the anodising plant is continued as it currently operates. The
current method might not be the optimal solution for any given day, but produces an
adequate makespan, which will not disrupt the normal processes that workers are used
to.
