AN EVALUATION OF THE TANDEM CONFIGURATION AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE SYSTEM

The performance of a tandem automated guided vehicle (AGV) system is compared with thar of conventional AGV track systems. in the tandem system the track is divided into non-overlapping, single-vehicle closed loops. Using simulation it is shown that, because of trips requiring delivery across loops, the tandem system has a higher expected travel time per load and thus a greater average time in system. When the loads are delivered within the original loop only, the tandem system has a lower average time in system than in conventional systems, although the difference is modest. Track layout appears to influence the average time in system much more than does the dispatching rule invoked. The success of the tandem system is highly dependent on approximately even AGV utilization, which may be difficult to obtain in practice.