Abstract
The problem of detailed scheduling of complex flexible manufacturing systems is addressed by optimal flow control. A model problem of scheduling parallel machines is considered to obtain necessary setup conditions. Studying the conditions results in a new solution approach that takes advantage of a juggling analogy of the production/setup scheduling. This analogy is used in the paper to direct construction of a solution method. The method searches for a globally optimal schedule by means of both a juggling strategy and a method of global optimization. The results obtained for a model problem are then generalized to systems with complex production and setup operations. Computational examples demonstrate the validity of the approach.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 241-260 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Discrete Event Dynamic Systems: Theory and Applications |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1999 |