A precedence-constrained asymmetric traveling salesman model for disassembly optimization

In this paper, we address a product-disassembly optimization problem, which aims at minimizing the costs associated with the disassembly process (namely, the cost of breaking the joints and the sequence-dependent set-up cost associated with the disassembly operations), while maximizing the benefits resulting from the recovery of components and subassemblies that constitute the product. A method able to capture the mating relationships among the parts and joints of the product through a network representation scheme is developed. The disassembly optimization problem is formulated as a precedence-constrained asymmetric traveling salesman problem. A three-stage iterative procedure is designed to obtain optimal or near-optimal solutions to the problem. The results demonstrate that our procedure generates solutions that are within 2% of optimality for all test cases, while only requiring a reasonable computational effort.

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation under grants EEC-9980282 (Sarin) and DMI-0094462 (Sherali), and by the Center for High Performance Manufacturing (CHPM) at Virginia Tech (Sarin and Bhootra) under CTRF grant SE 2002-03. We also wish to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. George Ioannou during the early stages of this research.

Notes

*Aborted after 6 hours of run time.

*Aborted after 6 hours of run time.