Part-grouping and build-scheduling with sequence-dependent setup time to minimize the makespan for non-identical parallel additive manufacturing machines

This paper addresses a part-grouping and build-scheduling problem for an additive manufacturing process with non-identical parallel additive manufacturing machines. Parts with the same material can be simultaneously manufactured as a build in the machine. The total areas of parts in the build cannot exceed the area capacity of the machine. Each machine has different heights in a build area. The maximum height of parts in the build is less than or equal to the height of each machine in the build area. The processing time of each build is the maximum processing time of parts belonging to the build. When the material is changed in each machine, the setup time occurs. The objective function is minimizing the makespan. To find optimal and near-optimal solutions for the problem, a mixed integer linear programming model and three meta-heuristic algorithms are presented. For small problem instances, the performance of three meta-heuristic algorithms is compared with the optimal value obtained mixed integer linear programming model. For large problem instances, the performance of three meta-heuristic algorithms is compared to each other.

Automated summary

This paper addresses a part-grouping and build-scheduling problem for an additive manufacturing process with non-identical parallel additive manufacturing machines. Mixed integer linear programming model and three meta-heuristic algorithms are presented to find optimal and near-optimal solutions for the problem. Performance comparison is conducted for both small and large problem instances.