ONE-MACHINE N-PART-TYTPE OPTIMAL SETUP SCHEDULING - ANALYTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SWITCHING SURFACES

The authors consider optimal setup scheduling of a single reliable mac hine. Production flow of n different Dart types and the setup process are described by differential equations. Setup change rates are contro l variables. Necessary conditions on optimal setup changes are charact erized analytically, and optimal setup change times are derived for a given setup change sequence. The linearization of optimal setup switch ing surfaces is derived, indicating the existence of attractors observ ed in numerical optimal solutions. The approach developed in this pape r establishes a strong basis for studying multimachine production syst ems and for constructing tractable near-optimal numerical solution tec hniques.