A framework for the selection of idle vehicle home locations in an automated guided vehicle system

In the study of automated guided vehicles systems (AGVS), one assumption of ten made in the management of vehicles is the existence of either home loca tions or a circulatory loop to buffer or hold idle vehicles. A review of AG VS literature reveals that different researchers pursue one idle vehicle ma nagement policy or the other. In some studies, idle vehicles are assumed to circulate in some loops in the system while others assume they are routed to some dwell point locations where they are held until they are reassigned . When the dwell point option is implemented, different strategies for impl ementation are also available. However, what is generally lacking in refere nces to dwell point strategies are the techniques for selecting the optimal or best dwell points for a given facility. In this study, the problem of d well point or home location specification is addressed. The problem was mod elled mathematically to determine the optimal home locations. The emphasis in the paper is on a unidirectional AGVS guide path. The criterion of optim ization employed is the minimization of the system response time to vehicle demand points when dispatched from home locations. Solution methodologies are presented and example problems solved to illustrate the applications of the models presented.