SCHEDULING A FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM WITH TOOLING CONSTRAINTS -AN ACTUAL CASE-STUDY

Material handling and the provision of supporting resources, particula rly tools, in flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) can constrain prod uction. To improve the productivity for an existing FMS, we first deve loped a simulation model that included constraints arising from materi al handling and tool management. Detailed simulations of the FMS showe d that a simple set of heuristic rules could produce several alternati ve schedules of nearly optimum performance. They also showed that when the flow of tooling was considered the FMS was operating near or over capacity. The goal of the study-to generate slack production time for the manufacture of additional parts-was unachievable. Clearly compani es must consider the constraints arising from material handling and th e flow of supporting resources in scheduling, yet these constraints ha ve seldom been considered in simulations of FMSs.