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Abstract
We study dynamic parts routing in flexible manufacturing systems. To quantify flexibility, we develop an entropy type of measure that incorporates all the job and machine characteristics that contribute to routing flexibility. Based on this measure and the principle of “least reduction in entropy” (LRE), two operating rules, the part selection rule and the machine selection rule, are established. These rules are then applied to drive some simulated systems and compared with the “shortest processing time” (SPT) rule. It is found that LRE either outperforms or is as good as SPT in terms of makespan and machine utilization.
Notes
*This research is supported in part by NSF under grant DMC-8503896. David Yno is also supported by ONR under contract N00014-84-K-0465 and by grants from General Electric Corporation and Xerox Corporation.