On optimal cyclic scheduling for a flexible manufacturing cell

This paper discusses an optimal cyclic scheduling problem for a FMC (Flexible Manufacturing Cell) modeled by a two-machine flowshop with two machining centers with APC's (Automated Pallet Changers), an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) and loading and unloading stations. Cyclic production in which similar patterns of production is repeated can significantly reduce the production lead-time and WIP (Work-In-Process) in such flexible, automated system. Thus we want to find an optimal cyclic schedule that minimizes the cycle time in each cycle. However, the existence of APC's as buffer storage for WIP makes the problem intractable (i.e., NP-complete). We propose an practical approximation algorithm that minimizes, instead of each cycle time, its upper bound. Performances of this algorithm are validated by the way of computer simulations.