A Simulation Study of Flexible Manufacturing System Using Dynamic Scheduling Approach

This paper presents a simulation study aimed at evaluating the performances of a typical Flexible manufacturing system (FMS) problems in terms of make span, average flow time, average delay time at local buffers and average machine utilization, subject to different control strategies which include routing flexibilities and dispatching rules. The routing strategies under evaluation are ‘No Alternative Routings (NAR)’; ‘Alternative Routings Dynamic (ARD)’; and ‘Alternative Routings Planned (ARP)’. The ARP rule was introduced into the FMS and coded with C++ program. The above routing strategies are combined with five dispatching rules and studied in different production volumes. Since an FMS usually deals with a variety of products, effects of changing the part mix ratio are also discussed. Simulation study was performed by using ARENA software. Finally results indicate that the ‘alternative routings planned’ strategy outperforms other routing strategies in general.