Smart Sequencing for Complex Assembly Line Optimization
Assembly line operations have become increasingly more complex from simpler setups producing a few products on dedicated lines to a much greater variety that can be produced on multiple lines, each with multiple line segments. Competing objectives between the different line segments e.g., grouping vs spacing; invalid back-to-back feature combinations are further complicated by merging and dividing nodes. The complexity resides in the need to find the best possible balance across the many trade-offs to ensure a buildable schedule.
When planning gets too complex for humans
Take, for example, an automotive manufacturer producing vehicles with optional two-tone paint. The masking, drying, and overspray limitations create sequencing constraints that cannot be easily solved with manual planning and scheduling. Smart sequencing enables the production system to respect these constraints while still optimizing for throughput across the rest of the line.
Solving large, complex problems requires optimization technology with the need to arrive at a near-optimal solution quickly to meet the expectations of the user. In other words, solutions must be both effective and timely to be practical in real-world operations. As business requirements constantly evolve, the user needs to be able to modify the production rules when required without the need to involve the solution vendor. This means the interface must be flexible and intuitive enough to allow direct control over how new rules are modeled and interpreted by the system.
More than efficiency: Building resilience and ROI
Complex assembly line requirements can be found across many industries, often having similar objectives: buildable schedules to avoid line stoppages or slowdown of lines resulting in the highest possible throughput and asset utilization. Balancing these demands not only improves system-wide performance but also reduces costly disruptions. In addition, a well-balanced system can yield measurable local efficiencies, with returns on investment often realized in less than six months. As the generated solution is buildable, reliability significantly increases, leading to fewer disruptions across the supply chain, including reduced expediting costs and fewer stockouts. Lastly, reliability has a positive impact on meeting demand and contributes to improved customer satisfaction.
The core competencies of a modern Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) solution provide users with access to a full range of configuration possibilities, enabling them to express complex production rules without custom coding or vendor dependency. The underlying optimization technology accepts and rejects candidate solutions very quickly resulting in short solving times, essential for frequent rescheduling at times of disruptions.
As in the two-tone paint example above, smart sequencing supports complex requirements without compromising schedule feasibility, enabling more flexible and dependable operations across the board.
The result is a near-lowest-cost solution that can be executed and frequently regenerated with different business objectives, including what-if scenarios and real-time disruptions.