Post-Disassembly Part-Machine Clustering Using Artificial Neural Networks and Ant Colony Systems

Abstract

After transhipment, the remanufacturable parts/components are usually released to the reprocessing facility where the necessary operations (such as disassembly) are performed. At times, formation of parts/components for reprocessing operations is a complex problem with broad implications to an organization, both on system structure and system operations. The chapter starts with an introduction about the issue of the classification of disassembled and reusable components. Then the related studies dealing with similar problems in the literature are discussed in the background section. Next, the focal problem of this chapter is stated in the problem statement section. The authors formulate the problem as a part-machine clustering problem in which, according to similarities of reprocessing requirement, disassembled parts/components are grouped into families, and machines are organized as cells. A detailed description about the approach (i.e., adaptive resonance theory neural network and ant colony system) can be found in the proposed methodology section. Right after this, two illustrative examples are explained in the experimental study section. The potential research directions regarding the main problem considered in this chapter are highlighted in the future trends section. Finally, the conclusion drawn in the last section closes this chapter.