OPTIMAL ROBOT SELECTION AND WORK STATION ASSIGNMENT FOR A CIM SYSTEM

In this paper, a mathematical program and solution algorithm is develo ped for optimal robot selection and work station assignment for a CIM system. In specific, our model considers selection of a proper mix of multiple-type robots such that operational requirements from a given n umber of work stations are satisfied at minimal system cost. Each robo t is characterized by its fixed charge, and subject to limits on machi ne time and work envelope. Each work station has known demands on both robot machine time and work space. The model is formulated as a pure 0-1 mathematical program and is shown harder than two-dimensional bin packing, a well-known NP-hard problem. A three-phase optimization algo rithm is implemented and tested by solving 450 randomly generated prob lems. Computational results indicate the solution algorithm is effecti ve in solving problems of a practical size (i.e., 50 work stations and a maximum of 20 robots) within acceptable computational times.