A new FMS simulator with object-oriented-programming techniques

Abstract

With the advance of research, design and operation of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), new requirements have been presented for FMS simulators. These new requirements are high modelling efficiency, high model validity and credibility, more user-friendly features, real control and scheduling logic similar to a real FMS, and effective and correct analysis of results, etc. In this paper, a new FMS simulator (FMSSIM) based on object-oriented-programming (OOP) and some new techniques is introduced. The new techniques include: (i) fully interactive graphical modelling technique, with which the simulation modelling only needs 2–4 h to complete and the model data are highly consistent and accurate; (ii) real FMS-like simulation control and scheduling, with which various control and scheduling algorithms such as AI-based heuristic scheduling can be easily implemented; (iii) the Intelligent Evaluator, with which the efficiency and accuracy of the evaluation process can be improved. Practical use has shown that the FMSSIM has a good performance in modelling, operation and evaluation, meeting the new requirements for a modern FMS simulator.