Integrated simultaneous scheduling of machines, automated guided vehicles and tools in multi machine flexible manufacturing system using symbiotic organisms search algorithm

ABSTRACT

This paper deals with machines, automated guided vehicles and tools simultaneous scheduling in multi-machine flexible manufacturing system considering jobs’ transport times among machines to minimize makespan. Only one copy of every tool type is made available due to economic restrictions. The tools are stored in central tool magazine that shares with and serves for several machines. This simultaneous scheduling problem is highly complex in nature as it involves the allocation of automated guided vehicles and tools to job-operations, job-operations sequencing on machines, and associated trip operations including the dead heading trip and loaded trip times of automated guided vehicles. This paper proposes symbiotic organisms search algorithm for solving this problem. An industrial problem in a manufacturing company is used for verification. The results show that SOSA is providing better solutions than Jaya algorithm, and the obtained schedule can be implemented practically with reduction in cost.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Machines
• automated guided vehicles and tools scheduling
• flexible manufacturing system
• automated guided vehicles
• symbiotic organisms search algorithm
• makespan
• optimization techniques

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the anonymous referees for their insightful comments, which greatly improved the earlier version of paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.