Optimization of the Design of Modular Production Systems

The desire for more flexibility in manufacturing systems, especially when different products or many product variants are manufactured in one production system is leading to a move away from the manufacturing principle of classic line production to more flexible and workshop-oriented production systems, particularly in the automotive industry. One of the challenges in these so-called modular assembly or production systems is the system design, especially the allocation of activities to the individual production cells. One approach to improve this allocation is offered by simulation-based optimization. In this paper, a concept for simulation-based optimization of the design of modular production systems is presented and demonstrated by means of a small academic case study. Classical genetic algorithms and additionally the NSGA-II algorithm, which also allows multi-objective optimization, are used.