ABSTRACT
Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) are characterized by the ability to process multiple part types simultaneously. The parts are manufactured by routing raw material through the machines according to a prescribed sequence of operations for each part type. The multiple parts move from buffers to machines, machines to buffers, or buffers to buffers concurrently, competing for a finite set of resources in the system, such as machines, material handling devices, tools, and buffers. Thus, resources in the system are shared by multiple processes. It is a great challenge to operate such systems effectively. It is important that the flexibility of the FMS (RMS) should be exploited sufficiently. This requires effective application of control and management techniques and theories to model and analyze the behavior of the systems (Jensen, 1986).
