Modeling a Class of Flexible Manufacturing Systems with Reversible Routing

David D. Yao and J. A. Buzacott
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David D. Yao: Columbia University, New York, New York
J. A. Buzacott: University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Operations Research, 1987, vol. 35, issue 1, 87-93

Abstract: We model a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) as a closed queueing network with a set of stations, each with a local buffer of limited capacity. Based on the theory of reversibility as well as some known approaches in the studies of queueing networks with finite buffers, we derive product-form solutions to a class of such FMS networks that have reversible parts routing (a system with a centralized material handling station being one example). This class also includes a certain type of dynamic routing scheme. For systems with zero-buffer stations, we show that the solutions have product form even for nonexponential processing times.

Keywords: 572 queueing network applications; 592 flexible manufacturing systems; 697 product-form solutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1987
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