A Response Surface approach to developing composite dispatching rules for Flexible Manufacturing Systems

The authors present a new approach to scheduling Flexible Manufacturing Systems based on Response Surface Modelling methodology. This experimental technique for model building is used to generate scheduling rules which are then used by the machines in the process of job selection. A systematic procedure to identify factors of interest and utilize them to develop a scheduling mechanism is presented. Issues of automation revision of the rules to adapt to changes in the shop are also discussed. The approach was tested as part of a larger framework of distributed decision making for scheduling and was found to perform significantly better than static heuristic procedures.