NSGA-III-based multi-objective approach for reconfigurable manufacturing system design considering single-spindle and multi-spindle modular reconfigurable machines

A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is one of the next generation production systems widely used to meet uncertain market demands in the context of Industry 4.0. The design of the RMS aims to achieve sufficient responsiveness so that it can be quickly adopted to the changes required for a niche market of a customized product family. Most components of the RMS are designed to be modular. Reconfigurable machines are one of the main modular components of the RMS. In the design of the RMS, the problem of machine selection is of primary interest, as the modular machines, with their respective tools and configurations, are selected to perform a given part from the part family. Due to this trilogy of machine, tool, and configuration selection, only one type of machine is considered. To remedy this shortcoming, this work introduces a new concept of modular machine configuration capability, which leads to the selection of two types of machines, namely, the single-spindle modular reconfigurable machines (SRMT) and the multi-spindle reconfigurable machines (MRMT). This paper addresses the problem of machine selection and RMS design. Firstly, a bi-objective mathematical model is developed for the generation of the process plan and the selection of reconfigurable machines. The results obtained, together with an initial layout, are then used to generate the RMS design. Secondly, a new objective function is introduced to address the problem of under-utilization of reconfigurable multi-spindle machines. A NSGA-III (non-dominating sorting genetic algorithm III)-based approach is proposed to solve the proposed models. To help the decision maker, the pseudo-weight technique is used to determine the best process plan and the best machines to include in the new designed RMS.