Optimal dwell point location of automated guided vehicles to minimize mean response time in a loop layout

Chulung Lee, J. A. Ventura

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An important control issue in operating an automated guided vehicle system is where to locate idle vehicles. Dwell points for idle vehicles affect the performance of manufacturing systems. A polynomial time algorithm has been developed to determine dwell points for idle automated guided vehicles that minimize the mean response time. Both uni- and bidirectional loop layouts are considered. The proposed algorithm, based on a dynamic programming model, partitions the set of pick-up stations into subsets so that a single vehicle serves all stations in a subset. The dynamic programming algorithm has been streamlined by applying certain optimality properties. Computational results show that the proposed algorithm can solve large-scale problems in a reasonable time. A simulation experiment has also been conducted to compare several idle vehicle positioning rules, and the results show that best performance is obtained by positioning idle vehicles in dwell points that minimize the mean response time.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4013-4031
Number of pages19
JournalInternational Journal of Production Research
Volume39
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2001
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Strategy and Management
  • Management Science and Operations Research
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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