Performance evaluation of flexible manufacturing systems with finite localbuffers: Fixed and dynamic routings

This article evaluates the performance of flexible manufacturing systems wi th finite local buffers and fixed or dynamic routing rules, and addresses t he optimal design or system configuration problem of maximizing the system throughput. The costs include machine cost, part (or pallet) cost, and loca l buffers cost. First, the system throughputs and their behaviors are consi dered with both queueing network analysis and simulation, and it is shown f or a fixed routing model that the system throughput in the case of finite l ocal buffers is greater than in the case of infinite local buffers. For a f ixed versus dynamic routing rule, it is also found that the throughput in t he former case can be close to the one in the latter case by changing the s etting parameters. Next, the design problems of maximizing the system throu ghput are considered numerically for fixed and dynamic routing cases. Then, it is seen that better combination of design variables is a class of the m onotonicity in local buffers, service rates, and routing probabilities.