Article ID: | iaor2007119 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 17 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 5 |
End Page Number: | 21 |
Publication Date: | Jan 2005 |
Journal: | International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems |
Authors: | Sethi Suresh, Sriskandarajah Chelliah, Sidney Jeffrey B., Geismar H. |
Keywords: | scheduling |
Flexible robotic cells combine the capabilities of robotic flow shops with those of flexible manufacturing systems. In an m-machine flexible cell, each part visits each machine in the same order. However, the m operations can be performed in any order, and each machine can be configured to perform any operation. We derive the maximum percentage increase in throughput that can be achieved by changing the assignment of operations to machines and then keeping that assignment constant throughout a lot's processing. We find that no increase can be gained in two-machine cells, and that the gain in three- and four-machine cells each is at most 14 2/7%.