Robot move scheduling in an FMC

ABSTRACT: In this study we deal with a cyclic schedule (the robot performs a set of activities and when the system returns to the initial state, the cycle is completed). A Flexible Manufacturing Cell (FMC) with few numbers of machines is considered which processes parts in which the loading and unloading of the machines is made by a robot, this is a Flow Shop technology and robot serves the machines in a cyclic manner. The type of FMC is of Robot centered type. FMC may produce the same type of parts or different types of parts. The robot is scheduled and its move can be cyclic, so that we can define which type of movement of robot (as a result, loading / unloading sequence of machines) is more appropriate for our purpose (minimization the cycle time and maximization of outcomes). This study contains a complete mathematical theory of determination of cycle time, which is missing from the literature. In Chapter 3, the optimality condition of each strategy of robot cyclic move is discussed and finally in last chapter, a lower bound for the feasible scheduling strategy is obtained. Keywords: Flexible manufacturing system, robot centered type FMS, job scheduling, robot cyclic move scheduling. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………