Development and evaluation of feature-focused dynamic routing policy

This paper reports on a development of feature-focused dynamic routing policy and its evaluation in a flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) simulation framework. The dynamic policy is based on an integrative methodology in which process planning system IMPlanner is integrated with FMS simulation module. IMPlanner’s rule-based system process selection system performs knowledge-intensive task of generating alternative processing options for each feature for parts in production plan. Generated alternative routings (process plan network) for each part are utilized in the FMS simulation module such that routing decision in FMS are made on periodic intervals by considering alternative processes for each feature and making decision based on the current system status and performance. The proposed framework has been evaluated in an experimental FMS simulation module, implemented in Arena, in which two performance criteria, machine utilization and WIP, were used to make routing decisions. The feature-focused approach is compared with traditional static decision-making, and its improved performance is demonstrated.