An Approach to Optimizing the Scheduling of Assembly Lines Controlled by Web Services

The combination of factory automation and computer science plays intense important role in modern manufacturing business. This thesis introduces a scheduling & optimization system applied on one assembly line. The implementation relies on JAVA and Drools rule language. The system is divided into several small modules including Orders, Facilities and Processes Model Design, Optimization. The Orders module uses JAXB technology to access and process an input XML file as the initial order list for scheduling. The Facilities and Processes Model Design Module uses a tabu search algorithm to retrieve a ’best’ scheduling solution. The Optimization module offers several solutions for the same optimization constraints, according to the different initial conditions that are input. The tests were performed on a real life assembly line originally used for the assembly of mobile phones. The approach is representative for customized and modularized detailed scheduling optimization and could be used for other types of assembly lines as well