A multi-commodity network design approach for automated guided vehicle systems

This paper presents a multi-commodity network design approach to solve the problem of simultaneously locating I/O stations and determining the orientation of path segments in a flexible manufacturing environment. A unidirectional material handling system is assumed, as they are more common in industry than bi-directional systems mainly due to their simpler control. The problem is modeled using a mixed integer linear program with the objective of minimizing material handling costs. The model is used at the design stage of the system.