A framework for material handling system design justification

The integrating nature of material handling systems renders their design and economic justification critical to the performance of a manufacturing system. This paper describes a framework for the concurrent design and economic justification of a material handling system (MHS). An approach to concurrent design and economic justification termed design justification is presented, followed by a discussion of the nature of the MHS selection and specification problems. The design justification framework utilizes a modified branch and bound concept which is guided by a marginal-analysis-based modification strategy. The prototype implementation of the design procedure involves automatic generation of discrete optimization, capacity, queueing network and simulation models. Illustrative examples are given of the design logic and information used within the framework. The application of the design justification framework enables system designers to develop material handling systems that are justifiable from both a performance and economic perspective.