Planning and scheduling approaches to operate a particular FMS

This paper contains a detailed description of a thirteen machine COMAU FMS for a company in Torino, Italy. The monthly and daily problems that need to be addressed and the approaches that are suggested to operate this efficiency are detailed. The trickier problems and constraints are those of tool management, especially tool loading. Detailed tooling data and their analysis are also presented. The complete spectrum of operational problems addressed range from aggregate planning to detailed scheduling, including fixture and inventory management. Breakdown situations are also addressed.