Abstract
Analytical approximations for the performance of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) with blocking of machines due to limited local buffers are presented. The approximations are based on a detailed analysis of FMS configurations used in industry. The method proposed uses informations generated by applying the classical closed queueing network (CQN) model to the FMS. The approximations developed are tested against simulation models for a wide variety of FMS configurations. The results presented show that the approximations are very good.