A heuristic model for production scheduling in the foundry industry with the employ of fuzzy logic (004-0133)

This work describes the conception, development and application of a methodology for the production scheduling in foundries. It has two important and linked moments, which are the furnace scheduling and the molding machines scheduling. The challenge consists in determining an adequate sequencing of production orders in the molding lines, combining light weight with average and heavy pieces, in order to obtain a constant demand of molten metal in balance with the offer of furnace derived metal. The heuristic approach was chosen to search for a solution of the problem, and the fuzzy logic technique was selected for the representation and manipulation of experts knowledge, identified in a qualitative research. The application results demonstrated, besides the benefits of the knowledge systematization and the capacity of fast carrying out simulations to find the best alternatives of solution, a more efficient performance than the obtained by the foundries specialists.