A reactive multi-flow approach to the planning and control of flexible machining facilities

The need for generating efficient planning and control systems for flexible machining facilities has further increased with the pressures of the moder n global market, in which there is an urgency for greater reactivity to hig hly individualistic customer desires and an unpredictable pattern of produc tion demands. This paper describes the design and realization of an integra ted planning and control system in which a two-phase planning approach is a dopted to generate schedules for medium-term and short-term planning horizo ns, in order to improve the reactivity of the system to the dynamic changes in demand and production capacities. Furthermore, this novel system referr ed to as a 'multi-flow controller', enables short-term planning for the flo ws of workpieces, fixtures and cutting tools within flexible machining faci lities to be carried out simultaneously, thus increasing the cohesion among machining activities through the introduction of bespoke schedules for too ling and fixturing operations. The multi-flow controller utilizes a graphic al interface to act as an 'advisory system' to the person responsible for t he generation of production schedules, and supports the frequent interactio ns required to modify the generated schedules due to manufacturing disturba nces. The paper illustrates the application of such a planning and control system within a typical flexible machining cell configuration.