A part release scheme in single-stage multimachine systems

In current manufacturing environments, manufacturing orders are often characterised by unstable market demand, short product life cycles, varieties of products, and short production lead times. In order to fulfil such manufacturing orders, a recent trend in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) is to use versatile machines with fast tool delivery devices. In contrast to a conventional FMS that mainly focuses on part flows, tool flow control is important in single-stage multimachine systems (SSMS), which consist of versatile machines and fast tool delivery devices. This study proposes a part release scheme for SSMS, which considers the projected tool competition at the part release stage. This scheme can be applied to a real environment to improve system performance. The effectiveness of the scheme is demonstrated through a series of simulation experiments. Interpretations of the results are also presented.