In this paper, we propose a simultaneous optimization model for product configuration and supply chain planning that can reflect customer’s participation in product design. A game theoretical model is developed to derive the equilibrium of the decision-makers with different objectives. The simultaneous optimization problem is formulated as a bilevel programming problem where the customer is a leader and the manufacturer is a follower. The effectiveness of the proposed model is confirmed from computational experiments.

The production system taken up in this research has a single machine and several LIFO buffers, and an operator moves jobs from a buffer to another or to the machine with a crane. Since the sequence of the jobs to be loaded to the machine and the relocations of them among the buffers are interrelated, these two decisions need to be addressed together with satisfying the due dates of the jobs and minimizing their setup times in a dynamic environment where long-term information on arriving jobs cannot be obtained in advance. Therefore, this research extracts scheduling logics for these tasks through a serious game, and evaluates their effects by simulation.

A significant amount of food is wasted in its supply chain before delivered to consumers. It is often argued that one-third rule is one of the main causes of the food loss. However, it has not yet been understood well how the rule actually affect the food loss. Thus, this study presents a simulation model for investigating the effect of the rule on the amount of food loss in a milk supply chain. The computational simulation provides a new insight on the food supply chain management.

To reduce the inventory of products for Tsukudani factories, we propose a production planning method considering the constraints of the production process that consists of cutting, burning, boiling, and packaging. The proposed method includes demand forecasting based on shipping record, requirements planning, and capacity planning. Finally, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we implemented a prototype system and performed computational experiments.

In this study, a method of production control based on levelizing production is developed to reduce tardiness of production to required orders under short due date. Levelizing production is one of significant production systems to stably produce different products in the mixed production and to reduce excessive process inventory. We proposed production control of multi-products to reduce tardiness of required orders in levelizing production. The proposed production control is based on decision process of the required amount of products from orders in the line. Two step process is developed to generate the order of products and the amount of products: the process to minimize tardiness of predetermined products and the process to minimize tardiness of ordered products. Mathematical model is concreted to resolve the two step process. In this paper, the characteristics of the proposed method is explained and the numerical experiment is performed to evaluate the performance of the method.

Customers desire manufacturing company to make desired products quickly. It is essential not only to plan an efficient production schedule but also to plan a material resources schedule to carry out the production schedule. There is a case that there are multiple evaluation criteria of the parts ordering schedule which decides parts order quantity and timing. This paper proposes an optimization method for the parts ordering scheduling problem which can obtain a set of Pareto solutions in a trial. The method uses Combinatorial Auction which can deal with a plurality of auctioned goods at a time to imitate a negotiation among agents. This paper conducted computational experiments to confirm the effectiveness of the method.

The precut-processed lumbers are carried from a precut factory to a construction site after cutting in a precut factory. To enhance the construction efficiency in the construction site, the precut-processed lumbers should sort in the order of the usage. On the other hand, for the efficiency of transportation, it is necessary to lower the height of the packaging lumber. In this research, therefore, we propose a heuristic method for stacking lumbers. In this method, we determine the position of lumbers without inclining while inserting supplement lumbers, according to the order of the usage of them.

In order to make manufacturing more environmentally friendly, the planning system, which makes decisions, must be connected to information in the execution system, which controls actual progress. However, on the ground this is not entirely the case due to the existence of production equipments with different functions. Furthermore, in the execution system, things not originally expected in the planning system arise due to situations dynamically changing. As part of feedback function development, this paper attempts to generate schedules for situations in which limits are placed on usable energy based on real-time information. It uses a manufacturing execution system that allows for information (such as productivity and energy consumption) measurement and feedback in real-time.

In the production site of the unit basics reinforcing rod for houses, the lead time from order to delivery of products is very short. Therefore the cutting operation of the reinforcing bar is performed every order to carry out a correct and quick activity. However, this operation rule has a low risk of the picking mistake, but on the other hand, it has a problem becoming high in a loss rate by the outbreak of edge materials. In this study, we formulate it as the issue of the bin-packing problem. And the new cutting rule considering multi orders is proposed, and it is inspected about the decrease of the edge materials loss by cutting.

In recent years, technical innovation is also expanded in the field of housing construction. The unit basic reinforcing rod system (BRS) is one of important innovation of "layout of reinforcement bar process" in the making of the housing base. This process was performed by handwork in the past, many housing construction sites are using BRS at now. The BRS is made in factory and production process are complicated. Therefore, the process systematization is behind. A manufacturing premise of BRS is regarded as a flow shop system that the lot sizing condition is different every process. In this study, an efficient scheduling method is proposed using the priority of the lot sizing condition.

In recent manufacturing industry, high-value-added workpieces have complex three dimensional and thin walled shapes such as aircraft parts. The workpiece stiffness during machining varies greatly according to machining strategy. The induced displacement and vibration between the tool and the workpiece strongly affect the machining accuracy and tool life. Therefore, proper cutting conditions and parameters regarding workpiece clamping and fixing are required to be selected. However, it is difficult to automatically determine the strategy for a rough machining operation using a commercial CAM system because of the large number of parameter combinations. In the authors’ previous study, a determination method of cutting procedure is proposed for maximizing the workpiece static stiffness based on topology optimization. In this study, dynamic stiffness is considered by maximizing eigenfrequencies of workpiece to improve the determination method of cutting procedure. The feasibility to calculate the optimized workpiece shapes is confirmed through conducting a case study.

設計から生産までモノづくり全般に亘る機能品質の評価法と改善法を研究する品質工学において、基本機能は重要概念の一つである。基本機能の定義（エネルギーの入出力関係を表す事）と要請（様々な技術分野に適応し得る汎用性がある事）から考案した変分原理と回路論を組合せた基本機能の定式化法を、下位にサブシステムを有する階層構造を有するシステムへ適用し更なる汎用性を確認し、設計プロセスへの適用時に期待される効果を示した。

In this research, we aim to establish an effective method to support designing and planning work environments and work processes coexisting and cooperating with humans and robots. In this report, we categorized the collaboration types by human and robot and presented a matrix of research framework consisting of two aspects: human and computer as the subject of design and planning, and to-be as a plan and as-is of actual results.

As market competition intensifies, there is a demand for modular production systems that can handle multiproduct variable quantity production. The problem of determining an appropriate facility layout and process schedule according to fluctuating orders tends to generate combinatorial explosion because mutual dependence of both design variables causes increase of solution space. In this paper, we apply ZDD, which is the data structure that can efficiently express combination sets, to the simultaneous planning method of facility layout and process schedule. We show a method of constructing solution space satisfying constraints according to fluctuating orders while suppressing combinatorial explosion.

Andon is a lean manufacturing tool deployed as part of visual management for propelling up communication in the industry. These days, fostering an industry 4.0 environment has become more and more intricate and taxing, especially where systems that engage digital manufacturing are required to merge production environment with information and communication technologies. Furthermore, when production processes lack an appropriate communication system, the augmented operator is not in a position to decrease the time between the occurrence of failure and its notification. Thus, communication systems should be upgraded wherever the components in industry 4.0 are connected for establishing a cyber-physical system (CPS). The objective of this research is to formulate the Andon support system (ASS) and support for CPS in a lean production setting and propel communication between members of the production team. The key route of information flow within the ASS is shown in detail. For demonstrating the ASS’ applicability, it has been executed in the production process. The outcomes show that the ASS can be effortlessly espoused in digital factories for propelling the response time on the basis of real-time operational information. Interconnections between information like data analytics from various machines blended with cloud and mobile computing and Internet of things (IOT) has a significant effect on decision making as well as production communication.

国内の電力価格は上昇傾向にあり，産業界国内の電力価格は上昇傾向にあり，産業界は国際的な競争力を維持するために電コストや設備費どの用低減が求られる．本稿では，生産ラインにおいて計画的なアドル状態(空ジョブ)を発生させ，電力のピークシフト行うことによりを発生させ，電力のピークシフト行うことにより電力コストを削減する手法提案．

Recently, crowdsourced manufacturing concept highly attracts attention. In crowdsourced manufacturing, each company shares their manufacturing resources to improve asset efficiency. To design a crowdsourced manufacturing system, the authors previously proposed an evaluation method based on matching stability analysis for a resource matching between resource requests and offers. The computational simulation results showed that the system profit maximization policy makes a resource matching instable. In this research, we propose a balancing method between the system profit and the matching stability based on the 'nucleolus' concept in cooperative game theory. The computational results show the proposed method improves matching stability with keeping system profit level.