TOOL FLOW PLANNING IN A FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM

In this paper the problem of tool management in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) is investigated. After a brief review of the literature, the problem of dynamical allocation of tools to workcentres is studied by stating an optimization problem which considers both tooling requirements given by work schedules and tool consumption. Some simple examples are given to illustrate the model. What emerges is an optimization problem of a dynamic system with nonlinear control constraints and integer variables, which is too complex to be solved with analytical methods. An heuristic, rule-based approach to this problem is then suggested, along with some results.