Process-based planning of material handling in manufacturing systems

Abstract

Manufacturing processes are more and more complicated which requires complex and flexible material handling solutions. The design of material handling for the advanced manufacturing processes can be realized in different ways, but none of them offers generally usable solutions. An integrated design process gives the best device for the planning, but its very complex characterisation makes the application too hard. To make an easier useable design method, which is closer to the operation process of the manufacturing system, we introduce a new planning concept for the material handling. This new concept uses the integrated, task-based approach however; it is mainly focusing to the handling processes. The objective of this concept is not the selection of the optimal solution; it targets to build effective, followable handling processes. In this paper, we describe the new concept and present a scenario to understand its operation.