Modeling a Real Cable Production System as a Single Machine-Scheduling Problem

Abstract

In cases where the size and colour of cable are changed, the cable industry is classified as a multi-product, mass production system. The paper provides a mixed integer linear programming model based on continuous time representation for a case study on the scheduling problem of the cable industry to minimize the total cost including setup cost, operating cost, and inventory holding cost. As the solution methodology, three grouping policies are proposed while Xpress solver could not give any feasible solution for the model. Cables of the same size and the same colour, respectively, of the different types of cable are grouped together. A metaheuristic based on a simulated annealing algorithm is applied to minimize the total cost of proposed solutions. Finally the solution with the smallest total cost is selected as the production schedule of the study case.