Job-shop scheduling considering dispatching rules of machines and material handling devices based on simulation

摘要

In order to utilize production resources efficiently and reduce the number of work-in-process(WIP), material handling device (MHD) is often used to coordinate with manufacturing operations in job-shops. The relationship between machine's scheduling and MHD's dispatching is studied in this paper. The simulation method is applied with simple heuristic dispatching rules for machines, MHD is used to generate active and feasible schedule. The mean flow time and mean tardiness of jobs are selected as the performance measures. The simulation shows that MHD dispatching rules have significant influence on system performance.