SCHEDULING IN FMS SUBJECT TO CONSTRAINTS

Abstract

The present day pattern of demand has mobilized the manufacturing industries towards a new system i.e. the 'Flexible Manufacturing System'. This system has an advantage over the conventional system of manufacturing that is, to manufacture a wide variety of products at a lower cost in mid volume range. But the colossal amount of investment involved in such system necessitates its efficient utilization. An efficient scheduling is one of the possible solutions to overcome this problem. To evaluate the performance of FMS simulation has been the most favoured approach. Simulation based scheduling methodology in FMS, proposed earlier, does not incorporate the practical aspect of availability of limited number of jigs/fixtures required by the job. In this thesis an effort has been made to modify the scheduling methodology in the light of the constraint of 'jigs availability'. This work would be useful in obtaining a more realistic schedule.