Simulation of Manufacturing System at Different Part Mix Ratio and Routing Flexibility

Abstract

In present market scenario, manufacturing industries need to focus towards capability to provide high product variety and availability of products at the point of demand. This situation creates pressure on manufacturing firms to be flexible and to reduce lead time to fulfill customer's demand on time. Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) with appropriate Routing Flexibility (RF) in addition to different scheduling strategies is the appropriate manufacturing alternative in such a case. Such systems are capable to adjust changing product mix yet providing higher performance in dynamic business environment. This research work presents simulation analysis of a FMS with varying Routing Flexibility (RF) level at different part mix ratio to validate this. The results show that varying part mix ratio has appreciable effect on the system performance, when no routing flexibility is present in the system. Also for all product mix ratios, increase in routing flexibility levels continues to improve MST performance with diminishing return.