Mathematical modelling of the scheduling of a production line at SKF

Abstract

The main purpose of this thesis project is to nd the required sizes of the bu ers in one of the future roller production channels in SKFs factory in Gothenburg. An integer linear programming model for nding the best schedule for the channel is developed. The model minimizes sum of the lead times for the batches of rollers in the channel. Thereby, the total time that the rollers are kept in the bu ers is minimized, which in turn minimizes the average demand for the volumes of the bu ers. Since the mathematical model is time-indexed, it represents an approximation of the real scheduling problem. Therefore, post-processing is used to improve the solution obtained. We study a case from the channel at SKF and present results in the form of optimal production schedules and number of pallets of rollers in the bu ers during the planning period. A comparison is made between optimal schedules obtained from the time-indexed model with di erent time step intervals.