Modern manufacturing systems routinely employ machining centers with integrated tool magazines, tool usage tracking devices, tool delivery and monitoring systems and new tool materials for high speed machining in a variety of configurations such as cells, flexible layouts etc. This grant provides funding for the investigation of models for determining economic processing rates, i.e. processing rates that are optimal with respect to some measure of performance, for such systems. Mathematical programming and heuristic techniques will be applied to the modeling and solution of a set of tool usage decision problems. Tool life models will be embedded into these decision problems. Among the objectives that will be considered are the maximization of processing rates, minimization of processing costs and minimization of processing times for a batch of parts. The optimization will take place by taking into account the multidimensional tradeoff between simultaneous loading of duplicate tools, periodic replacement of tools, selection of cutting parameters such as speed, feed and depth of cut, choice of cutting tool material, increasing failure probability of tools, allocation of operations across multiple machines etc. Industrial collaborators, involved in the operation of modern manufacturing facilities, will validate some of the models being investigated in this research. When possible, the optimization methods developed as a part of this research will be tested with data from these collaborators. If successful, this project could result in methods for planning and control of modern manufacturing systems that include tool life related issues. It may also augment advanced computational tools and methodologies available to operators of modern manufacturing systems for planning production and control, thereby improving operations. These improvements can potentially lower manufacturing costs, and reduce product turn-around times.
