INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF AN FMS BY IMPROVING THE TOOL SCHEDULING STRATEGIES

Tool exchange is an important task in actual operation of a flexible m anufacturing system, especially in the case of limited tool capacity o f the central tool magazine in an FMS and the local tool magazine on a machining centre. Effective scheduling strategy or rules for tool tra nsportation will increase the utilization of a machining centre, as we ll as the overall efficiency of an FMS. In this paper, we introduce ou r research work for improving the scheduling strategies for tool excha nge to increase the efficiency of an FMS. At the initial operation of an FMS, a simple scheduling rule combination for tool exchange, called ATE and RSTH is used. In the actual evaluation of the operation of th e FMS, its efficiency is found to be very low and the utilization of t he machining centre is below 70%. Simulation and analysis for the FMS are made and a new scheduling strategy combination called STE and WPN is tested. Results indicate that the utilization of the machining cent re has been increased to about 75%. This new scheduling strategy has i ncreased the operation efficiency of an FMS.