A review of scheduling rules in flexible manufacturing systems

Abstract

In this paper, the literature dealing with the parts scheduling problem in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) has been reviewed. Although the parts scheduling problem is only part of a much larger decision-making process, it has fundamental implications on the overall performance of the system: internally by affecting the utilization of expensive resources (c.g, machine tools and fixtures), and externally by affecting its responsiveness to meet the changing customer demands. This paper has two objectives: (1) to develop a framework within which to discuss the current literature on dispatching rules; and (2) to compare the developed list of dispatching rules and performance criteria from the surveyed literature with that desired by the FMS operators. The research findings arc critically reviewed and. analysed according to various two-dimcnsicnal classifications. The results from reallife case studies of FMS. are also discussed. Finally, the results arc summarized to present suggestions for future research efforts.

Simultaneous scheduling of workpieces, fixtures and cutting tools within flexible machining cells

“…All the other manufacturing elements involved in production such as machines, transporters, and manual operators have been dealt with as resources whose availability or shortage in¯uence the workpiece¯ow. This view has also been repeated in the research work on planning and scheduling of¯exible machining facilities (Gupta et al 1989). Researchers using this workpiece oriented approach have focused on a number of issues that are speci® cally related to the¯ow of workpieces.…”

New Developments and Decision-makings in Production and Retailing

“…It is designed to combine the efficiency of an assembly line and the flexibility of a job shop to best suit the batch production of mid-volume and mid-variety of products (Sarin and Chen 1987). FMS scheduling has been extensively investigated over the last two decades and it continues to attract interest from both academia and industry, and much literature has been published (Stecke and Solgerg 1981;Gupta et al 1989;Gupta et al 1991;Rachamadugu and Stecke 1994;Priore et al 2001;Chan et al 2002).…”

Controlling flexible manufacturing systems based on a dynamic selection of the appropriate operational criteria and scheduling policy

“…The scheduling rules implemented in this study (listed in Table 1) include some of the most popular scheduling rules that appeared in the literature (see, e.g., Gupta et al, 1989;Montazeri and Wassenhove, 1990;Sabuncuoglu and Hommertzheim, 1993;Kutanoglu and Sabuncuoglu, 1999;Shnits et al, 2004). It is important to notice that these rules were selected without loss of generality and other scheduling rules or algorithms can be included in the scheduling/dispatching rule set.…”