Robust cutting parameters optimization for production time via computer experiment

This study intends to determine the optimal cutting parameters required to minimize the cutting time while maintaining an acceptable quality level. Usually, the equation for predicting cutting time is unknown during the early stages of cutting operations. This equation can be determined by studying the output cutting times vs. input cutting parameters through CATIA software, with assistance from the statistical method, response surface methodology (RSM). Then, the equation is formulated as an objective function in the form of mathematical programming (MP) to determine the optimal cutting parameters so that the cutting time is minimized. The formulation in MP also includes the constraints of feasible ranges for process capability consideration and surface roughness for quality concerns. The important ranking obtained from the statistical method in cooperation with the optimal solutions found from MP can also be used as references for the possibility of robust design improvements.     

Solving real-world linear ordering problems using a primal-dual interior point cutting plane method

Cutting plane methods require the solution of a sequence of linear programs, where the solution to one provides a warm start to the next. A cutting plane algorithm for solving the linear ordering problem is described. This algorithm uses the primaldual interior point method to solve the linear programming relaxations. A point which is a good warm start for a simplex-based cutting plane algorithm is generally not a good starting point for an interior point method. Techniques used to improve the warm start include attempting to identify cutting planes early and storing an old feasible point, which is used to help recenter when cutting planes are added. Computational results are described for some real-world problems; the algorithm appears to be competitive with a simplex-based cutting plane algorithm.Research partially supported by ONR Grant number N00014-90-J-1714.     

A novel cutting force modelling method for cylindrical end mill

This paper proposes a new and simplified method for the calibration of cutting force coefficients and cutter runout parameters for cylindrical end milling using the instantaneous cutting forces measured instead of average ones. The calibration procedure is derived for a mechanistic cutting force model in which the cutting force coefficients are expressed as the power functions of instantaneous uncut chip thickness (IUCT). The derivations are firstly performed by establishing mathematical relationships between instantaneous cutting forces and IUCT. Then, nonlinear algorithms are proposed to solve the established nonlinear contradiction equations. The typical features of this new calibration method lie in twofold. On the one hand, all derivations are directly based on the tangential, radial and axial cutting force components transformed from the forces which are measured in the workpiece Cartesian coordinate system. This transformation makes the calibration procedure very simple and efficient. On the other hand, only a single cutting test is needed to be performed for calibrating the cutting force coefficients that are valid over a wide range of cutting conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed method in developing cutting force model is demonstrated experimentally with a series of verification cutting tests.     

The cutting stock problem for large sections in the iron and steel industries

The characteristics of a cutting stock problem for large sections in the iron and steel industries are as follows:(1) There is a variety of criterions such as maximizing yield and increasing effeciency of production lines. (2) A cutting stock problem is accompanied by an optimal stock selection problem. A two-phase algorithm is developed, using an heuristic method. This algorithm gives nearly optimal solutions in real time. It is applied to both batch-solving and on-line solving of one-dimensional cutting of large section. The new algorithm has played an important role in a large-section production system to increase the yield by approximately 2.5%.     

Interior point cutting plane method for optimal power flow

In this paper, an interior point cutting plane method (IPCPM)is applied to solve optimal power flow (OPF) problems. Comparedwith the simplex cutting plane method (SCPM), the IPCPM is simpler,and efficient because of its polynomial-time characteristic.Issues in implementing IPCPM for OPF problems are addressed,including (1) how to generate cutting planes without using thesimplex tableau, (2) how to identify the basis variables inIPCPM, and (3) how to generate mixed integer cutting planes.The calculation speed of the proposed algorithm is further enhancedby utilizing the sparsity features of the OPF formulation. Numericalsimulations on IEEE 14-300-bus test systems have shown thatthe proposed method is effective.     

Particle Finite Element Simulations of Cutting Processes in Manufacturing

The cutting of metals is an important process in manufacturing and challenges established methods in the field of computational mechanics. The particle finite element method (PFEM) combines the benefits of particle based methods and the standard finite element method (FEM) to account for large deformations and separation of material. In cutting simulations the workpiece is realised as a set of particles, whose boundary is detected by the α-shape method. After the boundary detection, the particles are meshed with finite elements. Since metals show a plastic behavior under large deformations, a suitable material model needs to be considered. Numerical examples show the effect of the choice of the parameter α on the cutting force. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Hybrid Algorithm for the Non-Guillotine Cutting Problem

In this article, a meta-heuristic method to solve the non-guillotine cutting stock problem is proposed. The method is based on a combination between the basic principles of the constructive and evolutive methods. With an adequate management of the parameters involved, the method allows regulation of the solution quality to computational effort relationship. This method is applied to a particular case of cutting problems, with which the computational behaviors is evaluated. In fact, 1000 instances of the problem have been classified according to their combinatorial degree and then the efficiency and robustness of the method have been tested. The final results conclude that the proposed method generates an average error close to 2.18% with respect to optimal solutions. It has also been verified that the method yields solutions for all of the instances examined; something that has not been achieved with an exact constructive method, which was also implemented. Comparison of the running times demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method as compared with the exact method.     

On the enumerative nature of Gomory’s dual cutting plane method

For 30 years after their invention half a century ago, cutting planes for integer programs have been an object of theoretical investigations that had no apparent practical use. When they finally proved their practical usefulness in the late eighties, that happened in the framework of branch and bound procedures, as an auxiliary tool meant to reduce the number of enumerated nodes. To this day, pure cutting plane methods alone have poor convergence properties and are typically not used in practice. Our reason for studying them is our belief that these negative properties can be understood and thus remedied only based on a thorough investigation of such procedures in their pure form. In this paper, the second in a sequence, we address some important issues arising when designing a computationally sound pure cutting plane method. We analyze the dual cutting plane procedure proposed by Gomory in 1958, which is the first (and most famous) convergent cutting plane method for integer linear programming. We focus on the enumerative nature of this method as evidenced by the relative computational success of its lexicographic version (as documented in our previous paper on the subject), and we propose new versions of Gomory’s cutting plane procedure with an improved performance. In particular, the new versions are based on enumerative schemes that treat the objective function implicitly, and redefine the lexicographic order on the fly to mimic a sound branching strategy. Preliminary computational results are reported.     

关于“截断切割”的最优设计

针对 1 997年全国大学生数学建模竟赛 B题 ,对于换刀费用 e=0的情况 ,本文设计了一种异常简捷的切割厚度排序法来寻找最优切割方案 ,同时在数学上给出了严格的证明 .对于换刀费用 e≠ 0的情况 ,以 e=0时得到的最优切割方案为基础 ,先通过简单的调整原则寻找出限定不同换刀次数时各自的最优切割方案 ,再通过费用比较便可简捷地得到随 e值的大小而变化的最优切割方案 .本文构造的模型在求解时无须用计算机编程 ,只用手算即可简捷地得到答案     

Global Minimization of Increasing Positively Homogeneous Functions over the Unit Simplex

In this paper we study a method for global optimization of increasing positively homogeneous functions over the unit simplex, which is a version of the cutting angle method. Some properties of the auxiliary subproblem are studied and a special algorithm for its solution is proposed. A cutting angle method based on this algorithm allows one to find an approximate solution of some problems of global optimization with 50 variables. Results of numerical experiments are discussed.     

Finding the Strictly Local and $\epsilon $-Global Minimizers of Concave Minimization with Linear Constraints

This paper considers the concave minimization problem with linear constraints, proposes a technique which may avoid the unsuitable Karush-Kuhn-Tucker points, then combines this technique with Frank-Wolfe method and simplex method to form a pivoting method which can determine a strictly local minimizer of the problem in a finite number of iterations. Based on strictly local minimizers, a new cutting plane method is proposed. Under some mild conditions, the new cutting plane method is proved to be finitely terminated at an $\epsilon $-global minimizer of the problem.     

The combined cutting stock and lot-sizing problem in industrial processes

Despite its great applicability in several industries, the combined cutting stock and lot-sizing problem has not been sufficiently studied because of its great complexity. This paper analyses the trade-off that arises when we solve the cutting stock problem by taking into account the production planning for various periods. An optimal solution for the combined problem probably contains non-optimal solutions for the cutting stock and lot-sizing problems considered separately. The goal here is to minimize the trim loss, the storage and setup costs. With a view to this, we formulate a mathematical model of the combined cutting stock and lot-sizing problem and propose a solution method based on an analogy with the network shortest path problem. Some computational results comparing the combined problem solutions with those obtained by the method generally used in industry—first solve the lot-sizing problem and then solve the cutting stock problem—are presented. These results demonstrate that by combining the problems it is possible to obtain benefits of up to 28% profit. Finally, for small instances we analyze the quality of the solutions obtained by the network shortest path approach compared to the optimal solutions obtained by the commercial package AMPL.     

A conjugate Rosen’s gradient projection method with global line search for piecewise linear concave optimization

The Kelley cutting plane method is one of the methods commonly used to optimize the dual function in the Lagrangian relaxation scheme. Usually the Kelley cutting plane method uses the simplex method as the optimization engine. It is well known that the simplex method leaves the current vertex, follows an ascending edge and stops at the nearest vertex. What would happen if one would continue the line search up to the best point instead? As a possible answer, we propose the face simplex method, which freely explores the polyhedral surface by following the Rosen’s gradient projection combined with a global line search on the whole surface. Furthermore, to avoid the zig-zagging of the gradient projection, we propose a conjugate gradient version of the face simplex method. For our preliminary numerical tests we have implemented this method in Matlab. This implementation clearly outperforms basic Matlab implementations of the simplex method. In the case of state-of-the-art simplex implementations in C or similar, our Matlab implementation is only competitive for the case of many cutting planes.     

基于数值分布的激励型综合评价方法

针对激励评价中的等级划分问题,本文提出了一种基于数值分布的等级划分方法,相比于现有的等级划分方法,该方法能够综合考虑数值分布情况来划分等级,并结合本文提出的等级划分法对密度算子进行拓展,提出了一种基于数值分布的激励型综合评价方法。首先本文从数值分布的角度提出了一种新的等级划分方法,从而得出各等级区间的等级区间分界点;其次确定等级系数,并结合指标值和等级区间分界点给出各指标的权向量,给出一种不需要进行归一化处理的等级权向量确定方法,该方法能够较好的解决归一化处理带来的不公平性;再次根据密度算子思想对评价数据进行集结得出评价结果;最后通过一个算例对该方法进行验证,结果表明该方法可以实现对被评价对象科学激励的作用。该方法尤其适用于企业员工激励、省市综合排名、高校人才选拔等问题。     

Multi-level lot sizing and job shop scheduling with compressible process times: A cutting plane approach

This paper proposes an integer linear programming formulation for a simultaneous lot sizing and scheduling problem in a job shop environment. Among others, one of our realistic assumptions is dealing with flexible machines which enable the production manager to change their working speeds. Then, a number of valid inequalities are developed based on problem structures. As the valid inequalities can help in reducing the non-optimal parts of the solution space, they are dealt with as some cutting planes. The proposed cutting planes are used to solve the problem in (i) cut-and-branch, and (ii) branch-and-cut approaches. The performance of each cutting plane is investigated with CPLEX 12.2 on a set of randomly-generated test data. Then, some performance criteria are identified and the proposed cutting planes are ranked by TOPSIS method.     

Call Center Staffing with Simulation and Cutting Plane Methods

We present an iterative cutting plane method for minimizing staffing costs in a service system subject to satisfying acceptable service level requirements over multiple time periods. We assume that the service level cannot be easily computed, and instead is evaluated using simulation. The simulation uses the method of common random numbers, so that the same sequence of random phenomena is observed when evaluating different staffing plans. In other words, we solve a sample average approximation problem. We establish convergence of the cutting plane method on a given sample average approximation. We also establish both convergence, and the rate of convergence, of the solutions to the sample average approximation to solutions of the original problem as the sample size increases. The cutting plane method relies on the service level functions being concave in the number of servers. We show how to verify this requirement as our algorithm proceeds. A numerical example showcases the properties of our method, and sheds light on when the concavity requirement can be expected to hold.     

Parametric integer linear programming: A synthesis of branch and bound with cutting planes

A branch and bound algorithm is designed to solve the general integer linear programming problem with parametric right-hand sides. The right-hand sides have the form b + θd where b and d are comformable vectors, d consists of nonnegative constants, and θ varies from zero to one.The method consists of first determining all possible right-hand side integer constants and appending this set of integer constants to the initial tableau to form an expanded problem with a finite number of family members. The implicit enumeration method gives a lower bound on the integer solutions. The branch and bound method is used with fathoming tests which allow one family member possibly to fathom other family members. A cutting plane option applies a finite number of cuts to each node before branching. In addition, the cutting plane method is invoked whenever some members are feasible at a node and others are infeasible. The branching and cutting process is repeated until the entire family of problem has been solved.     

A worst case analysis of a dynamic programming-based heuristic algorithm for 2D unconstrained guillotine cutting

In this paper, a dynamic programming-based recursive method is proposed for solving an unconstrained 2D rectangular cutting problem. The algorithm is an incomplete method, in which some intricate cutting patterns may not be obtained. The worst case performance of the algorithm is evaluated and some theoretical analyses for the algorithm are performed. Compared to traditional dynamic programming, this algorithm gives a high percentage of optimal solutions (94.84%, 86.67% and 77.83% for small, medium and large sized unweighted instances, 99.67%, 99.50% and 97.00% for small, medium and large sized weighted instances) but features a far lower computational complexity. Computational results are also presented for some known benchmarks.     

Modeling multistage cutting stock problems

In multistage cutting stock problems (CSP) the cutting process is distributed over several successive stages. Every stage except the last one produces intermediate products. The list of intermediate products may be given or arbitrary. The goal is to minimize the total amount of material taken out of stock to cut finished products sufficient to meet customer demands. If the intermediate sizes are given, the column generation technique can be applied to multistage cutting problems. If the intermediate sizes are not given then another dimension is added to the problem complexity. We propose a special procedure for this case that dynamically generates both rows (intermediate sizes) and columns (patterns). We refer to this method as row-and-column generation. The method uses an auxiliary problem embedded into the frame of the revised simplex algorithm. It is a non-linear knapsack problem that can be solved efficiently. In contrast to the column generation method the developed technique cannot guarantee the optimal solution. However, the results of computational experiments are very promising and prove that the method is a valuable addition to the set of tools for modeling and solving multistage CSPs.     

The branch and cut method for the facility location problem with client’s preferences

Numerical study is provided of the methods for solving the facility location problem when the clients choose some suppliers by their own preferences. Various formulations of this problem as an integer linear programming problem are considered. The authors implement a cutting plane method based on the earlier proposed family of valid inequalities which arises from connection with the problem for a pair of matrices. The results of numerical experiment are presented for testing this method. An optimal solution is obtained by the two versions of the branch and cut method with the suggested cutting plane method. The simulated annealing method is proposed for obtaining the upper bounds of the optimal solution used in exact methods. Numerical experiment approves the efficiency of the implemented approach in comparison with the previously available methods.