Concurrent part assignment and tool allocation in FMS with material handling considerations

Two of the most important planning tasks in FMS are the determination of part assignment and tool allocation. This paper addresses part assignment and tool allocation concurrently with explicit considerations given to material handling issues. To that end, the authors provide a basic model, formulated as a linear integer model. Several alternative formulations are also included. The viability of the model results, when operational control strategies are incorporated, is investigated in several simulation experiments. The impact of material handling capacity on the operation of an FMS is demonstrated and analysed.