ABSTRACT
In response to global market competition, a well-recognized way is for a manufacturer to adopt agile automated manufacturing systems (AMS). An AMS is composed of versatile machines and an automated material handling system (MHS), and is controlled by a computer. The MHS is composed of robots and/or automated guided vehicles (AGV). The AGVs form an AGV system. AMSs are characterized by the ability to process multiple part types simultaneously. The parts are manufactured by routing material through the machines according to the 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 the finite set of resources in the system such as machines, the mate rial handling system, tools and buffers. It is a great challenge to operate such sys tems effectively. It is important that the flexibility of the AMS is exploited suffi ciently. This requires effective application of control and management techniques and theories to model and analyze the behavior of the systems [1].
