Alternate Routing Strategies in Batch Manufacturing: An Evaluation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Batch manufacturing firms are experiencing significant changes because of technological developments in work center design, such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and planning/control tools like computer‐aided process planning (CAPP). These new developments provide production managers with some solutions to a number of complex problems. For example, numerical‐controlled (NC) machine center installations are effective in providing quality parts because of tight tolerance specifications built into the equipment. However, these highly efficient centers create bottlenecks that constrain shop throughput, since production planners tend to rely too much on them. To help improve manufacturing planning, we introduce an important element to the batch production scheduling component of CAPP's mission—evaluating possible alternate routes. Production scheduling encompasses job route selection as well as machine center assignment (loading), job releasing, and setting due dates. In this paper, three routing strategies requiring different levels of shop floor information are tested and evaluated using computer simulation. Shop performance is measured by total cost and traditional measures of job flow time, lateness, and tardiness.