A RESPONSE-SURFACE APPROACH TO DEVELOPING COMPOSITE DISPATCHING RULESFOR FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

We present a new approach to scheduling Flexible Manufacturing Systems based on Response Surface Modelling methodology. This experimental te chnique for model building is used to generate scheduling rules which are then used by the machines in the process of job selection. A syste matic procedure to identify factors interest and utilize them to devel op a scheduling mechanism is presented. Issues of automation revision of the rules to adapt to changes in the shop are also discussed. The a pproach was tested as part of a larger framework of distributed decisi on making for scheduling and was found to perform significantly better than static heuristic procedures.