International Journal of Production Research · 1990 · 235 citations · 9 references
EngineeringIndustrial EngineeringSimulationDiscrete-event SimulationModular SimulatorOperations ResearchSystems EngineeringModeling And SimulationParallel ComputingCombinatorial OptimizationSystem SimulationComputer EngineeringManufacturing SystemsComputer ScienceScheduling AnalysisUser-friendly SimulatorsScheduling ProblemManufacturing Systems SimulationProduction SchedulingSimulation InfrastructureScheduling RulesIndustrial Informatics
The study discusses a general‑purpose, user‑oriented discrete event simulator for FMS and notes that modular, user‑friendly simulators enable quick, low‑cost analysis. The authors review existing literature on scheduling rules for manufacturing systems. They analyze dispatching rule performance with a modular simulator that mimics real‑life FMS operation. Results show that dispatching rules significantly affect system performance measures, such as average machine utilization, and that selecting the best rule via simulation is worthwhile given high FMS investment costs.
SUMMARY We first discuss the characteristics of a general-purpose, user-oriented discrete event simulator for FMS. Then we briefly review the literature on scheduling rules for manufacturing systems. The performance of a number of dispatching rules is subsequently analysed using our modular simulator to mimic the operation of a real-life FMS. Results show that dispatching rules have a large impact on various system performance measures, such as average machine utilization. Considering the high investment costs of FMS it is certainly worthwhile to choose the best dispatching rule by use of simulation. This is especially true since modular and user-friendly simulators are now available so that the analysis can be performed quickly and at very moderate cost.
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