Int j simul model 12 (2013) 1, 17-26 ISSN 1726-4529 Original scientific paper DOI:10.2507/IJSIMM12(1)2.220 17 APPLYING SWARM INTELLIGENCE TO DESIGN THE RECONFIGURABLE FLOW LINES Goyal, K. K. * ; Jain, P. K. * & Jain, M. ** * Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, India ** Department of Mathematics, IIT Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, India E-Mail: kkg74dme@iitr.ernet.in, kapilacad@gmail.com, pjainfme@iitr.ernet.in, madhufma@iitr.ernet.in Abstract Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) justifies the need of hour by combining the high throughput of dedicated manufacturing system with the flexibility of flexible manufacturing systems. At the heart of RMS lies the Reconfigurable Machine Tools which are capable of performing multiple operations in its existing configurations and can further be reconfigured into more configurations which makes the configuration selection an arduous task. In the present research work the design of single part reconfigurable flow line has been attempted considering multiple objectives i.e. cost and machine utilization. A methodology is proposed for multiple objective optimization of RMS configuration based on machine utilization and cost by applying Multiple Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO). A case study has been taken to illustrate the developed approach of flow line optimization applying MOPSO. (Received in February 2012, accepted in August 2012. This paper was with the authors 1 month for 1 revision.) Key Words: Reconfigurable Manufacturing System, Reconfigurable Machine Tool, Single Part Reconfigurable Flow Line, Machine Selection, Multiple Objective Particle Swarm Optimization 1. INTRODUCTION The increasingly fluctuating and uncertain demands coupled with the ever changing products and process technologies have pronounced the inability of conventional manufacturing systems to handle the modern challenges efficiently and cost effectively. Considering the limitations of existing manufacturing systems in terms of adjusting the capacity and functionality economically and rapidly, has paved the way for a new manufacturing paradigm. Moreover the existing systems are facing a threat of obsolescence due to the fast pace of development in the enabling technologies and the ever changing needs of the customers. Therefore, there is an acute need of a manufacturing system, which is responsive to the market requirements and can easily be upgraded. The responsiveness of the system is the ability of a system to adjust its functionality and capacity rapidly with respect to ever changing product mix and volume. The answer to all these requirements was proposed by Koren [1] in terms of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS). The concept of ‘modular manufacturing’ defined by Tsukune et al. is also similar to the Reconfigurable Manufacturing System. Later in 1996 the Engineering Research Centre for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (ERC-RMS) was established at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to develop and implement reconfigurable manufacturing systems. Koren et al. (1999) defined RMS as: “An RMS is designed at the outset for rapid change in its structure, as well as in hardware and software components, in order to quickly adjust the production capacity and functionality