Production scheduling of Aluminium Anodising plant

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.