A dynamic scheduling method for flexible assembly systems with prescribed product mix

The production of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) will be disturbed if machines can fail. Dynamic scheduling methods become indispensable in this case. In this paper, a `simple to use´ dynamic scheduling method for the FMSs with failure-prone machines is proposed. It is assumed that several part types are produced simultaneously in the system with a given quantity of products to make and with a prescribed production mix during production. Facing machine failures, the proposed method attempts to maximize the production percentage at the end of production, while achieving a good tracking to the prescribed production mix during production. The performance study of proposed method by numerical simulations is presented at the end of the paper