Using autonomous modular material handling equipment for manufacturing flexibility

Author

Johansson, Björn ; Williams, Edward J. ; Alenljung, Tord

Author_Institution

Dept. of Product & Production Dev., Chalmers Univ. of Technol., Gothenburg, Sweden

Volume

2

fYear

2004

fDate

5-8 Dec. 2004

Firstpage

1115

Abstract

This paper describes a modular autonomous material handling equipment solution for flexible automation. Discrete event simulation is in this case used as a tool for shortening time spent in many different phases of a manufacturing systems lifecycle. The paper presents the concept of autonomous modular material handling equipment, and how simulation is used as a support tool and lead time reducer in each lifecycle phase. Furthermore, we describe the knowledge levels needed for using the simulation support and conclude with examples of how this methodology are reducing lead times within a company.

Keywords

computer integrated manufacturing; discrete event simulation; flexible manufacturing systems; materials handling; production engineering computing; autonomous modular material handling equipment; discrete event simulation; flexible automation; lead time reduction; manufacturing flexibility; manufacturing system lifecycle; simulation support; Control systems; Costs; Enterprise resource planning; Lead time reduction; Manufacturing automation; Manufacturing industries; Manufacturing processes; Manufacturing systems; Materials handling equipment; Production facilities;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Simulation Conference, 2004. Proceedings of the 2004 Winter

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8786-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/WSC.2004.1371437

Filename

1371437