Abstract
Manufacturing systems have recently been shifted from high-volume/low-mix manufacturing to high-mix/low-volume manufacturing and renamed “flexible manufacturing systems” (FMSs). However, problems have occurred, primarily the fact that such systems might not be able to cope with quick environment changes. It is not easy to change the layout and facilities of a factory once we build a big system because it controls the whole manufacturing system in FMS hierarchically. Therefore, new systems for variety-variable manufacturing with flexibility are proposed. A general idea of an autonomous and distributed manufacturing system has been suggested, and it seems feasible because each component part has original information-treatment and decision-making functions. The system gives the constituent elements of its manufacturing system an autonomous decision-making function. The role of an automated guided vehicle (AGV) conveyance system, which controls the flow of parts in a factory, is becoming more important, but research in the conveyance system has been uneven. Examples include studies on AGV action decision-making theory, scheduling, and so on, whereas meanwhile, the use of autonomous decision-making controls in places where transportation is received and transported has hardly been researched. On the other hand, applications of knowledge from one field to a different field have recently drawing much attention. Such activity is known as a mimetic solution. We propose an application of knowledge hidden in traffic engineering to manufacture a trial mimetic solution. Manufacturing systems must withstand such uncertain factors as a sudden change of the manufacturing process, and we therefore propose applying the characteristics of taxi transportation with flexibility to an AGV conveyance system. A taxi is a transport unit in a traffic system with higher flexibility in traveling routes and arrival/departure points compared with railways and buses. Our proposed system’s performance is shown based on conveyance efficiency and energy consumption. Additionally, the multiple-load taxis, which are based on taxi characteristics such different body types (small or medium), are applied and evaluated in terms of their conveyance efficiency. Results indicate that a combination of such multiple-load AGVs shows a good performance in terms of higher conveyance efficiency and lower environmental impact.
Published Version
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