Abstract
A new tool allocation method is proposed, in this paper, to consider both load balancing and optimization of transportation based on mathematical programming. The proposed tool allocation method consists of two steps. In the first step, the individual tools are divided into tool sets based on the integer programming, in order to balance the total machining time by using the individual tool sets and reduce the number of transportation. In the second step, the individual tool sets are assigned to the MCs based on the quadratic assignment problem, in order to minimize the transportation distance of jobs. Some case studies have been carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
