Performance analysis of a flexible flow shop with random and state-dependent batch transport

Abstract

In many manufacturing contexts, performance modelling of an integrated production and material handling system is a complex problem. Existing research lacks an in-depth consideration of the integration of these two areas. A flexible flow shop with random and state-dependent batch transport, where the batch size depends on the number of jobs in the buffers and the capacity of automated guided vehicles, is considered and modelled as an open queueing network with blocking. A decomposition method of state space is proposed for computing system performance measures. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are demonstrated by comparing the results with simulations from numerical experiments. Meanwhile, the properties of the system, especially for material handling processes, are investigated and analyzed according to the experiments. The results of this paper can be used as a basis for system design, analysis, and resource planning.

Keywords:

• flexible flow shop
• automated guided vehicle
• performance analysis
• queueing networks
• batch transport

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51805096, 51775120, 61573109, 71802055]; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant number 2018M630929, 2018M643030]; Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, China [grant number 2018A030313477].