Search

For the design and operation of interim product manufacturing systems, large-scale one-of-a-kind production (OKP) features disruptions and lack of synchronization, which challenges real-time production process systematic control. The difficulty lies in two aspects. First, large-scale OKP is generally characterized by product design uncertainty and changes in resource availability, which often causes varied working time with workforce allocation variations. Second, specific types of large-scale OKP provides discrete production with complicated structures. There is the complicated work breakdown structure (WBS) of top-down and simple-to-complex refinement. Moreover, the production task relation structure in WBS, which consists of tandem structure, parallel structure and double-level-nested parallel structure, is complex. Indeed, many large-scale OKP enterprises do not have an effective method to both control and plan adjustment in a systematic way for dealing with the progress of OKP operations under workforce allocation disruptions and different working time scenarios. The traditional production project management and control system, theory, and methods do not handle this situation well since these technologies are developed with a view to managing production periods instead of controlling time-related cost systematically during production. Regarding the interim product production process in large-scale OKP as a manufacturing system, in this article we propose a cost dynamic control and optimization method based on the multilevel hierarchical PERT-Petri net (MLHPP) to achieve a closed-loop production dynamic control structure in large-scale OKP. The proposed modeling method and algorithms, through an industrial implementation in shipbuilding interim production (e.g., a ship block building), demonstrate a computing model for structuring and controlling large-scale OKP systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]