Modeling a Class of Flexible Manufacturing Systems with Reversible Routing
Operations Research · 1987 · Volume 35 · Issue 1
Abstract
We model a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) as a closed queueing network with a set of stations, each with a local buffer of limited capacity. Based on the theory of reversibility as well as some known approaches in the studies of queueing networks with finite buffers, we derive product-form solutions to a class of such FMS networks that have reversible parts routing (a system with a centralized material handling station being one example). This class also includes a certain type of dynamic routing scheme. For systems with zero-buffer stations, we show that the solutions have product form even for nonexponential processing times.
Keywords
572 queueing network applications, 592 flexible manufacturing systems, 697 product-form solutions
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