Page 23
Volume 1, Issue 1
“Intelligent Scheduling System for Flow Shop and Job Shop Problems in Discrete Manufacturing”
Qurratulain Shakoor
Operations Scheduling at Shop floor is one of the main issues in today’s competitive manufacturing environment where responsiveness to the market determines the survival of industries. Most
of the operations scheduling of discrete manufacturing system falls under the categories of flow
shop and job shop.
In flow shop scheduling the sequence of machines for all the parts to be processed is same.
Where as in job shop scheduling the sequence of machines differ for each part.
In this project, a scheduling methodology based on Genetic Algorithms was developed. It takes
the part sequences for N number of jobs as chromosomes. The chromosomes of given number
of population size are evaluated for the given process plan (process constraints) for shop floor
scheduling system using an algorithm to sequence the jobs for machine loading. A solution
space of the chromosomes was searched through the use of Genetic Algorithm for the best/
optimal chromosome for the minimization of Makespan.
MATLAB was used to code the algorithm which determined the optimal sequence both for flow
shop and job shop problems. GUI (Graphical User Interface) was developed for user friendly input data and display for output results in terms of individual machine schedule.
The system was validated through case studies from real world scheduling problems.
“Facility Relocation Analysis”
Usman Dawood Barry
In our Final Year Project we were required to analyze the threats being faced to Reckitt Benckiser Pakistan at its current location, S.I.T.E. and suggest a more feasible location where it would
be appropriate to relocate or expand their industry in the future if the need arises. We studied 7
different industrial sectors of Karachi, out of which 4 were shortlisted and studied in detail. These
included Korangi Industrial Area (KIA), Landhi, Sindh Industrial and Trade Association (SITE) and
Bin Qasim Town. The analysis helped us to choose the Bin Qasim area as the most viable option.
Many different techniques were used in this feasibility study where we applied the concepts of
Weighted Average and the Transportation Model to analyze which location is the best
The reason why we chose Bin Qasim was because of the advantage of the continuous supply of
water and electricity. It also enjoys ample natural gas supply having terminal of SSGC near it
from where the whole Karachi gets its transmission. A stable transportation, communication, secure environment and free from political obstructions, gives the Bin Qasim area a sizable advantage over others.