This research involves the development and evaluation of a work flow control scheme for a type of flexible flow line(FFL) with limited buffer space. Work flow contorl scheme for the FFL includes two major functions: releasing and dispatching. A simple...
This research involves the development and evaluation of a work flow control scheme for a type of flexible flow line(FFL) with limited buffer space. Work flow contorl scheme for the FFL includes two major functions: releasing and dispatching. A simple releasing scheme called Workload Balancing(WLB) rule was developed. WLB rule attempts to minimize the deviation of the system workload from the ideal state in which the current system workload is proportional to the workload in the remaining job pool for each machine center. Dispatching decision was made using either SOT(Shortest Operation Time) rule or LOT(Longest Operation Time) rule depending on the workload level at the current machine center; where the decision is require, and the subsequent machine center. The performance of the control scheme was compared via computer simulation to that of Minimal Part Set(MPS) heuristic which is another simple control scheme reported in the literature. The simulation results indicate that the performance of the WLB rule is superior to the MPS heuristic.