AUTOMATIC ADAPTIVE SCHEDULING OF PROCESSING IN MULTIMACHINE CELLS.

EFFECTIVE PRODUCTION SCHEDULING CAN HAVE A DRAMATIC IMPACT ON MANUFACTURING PRODUCTIVITY. IN MODERN AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS, SCHEDULING CAN HELP REDUCE INDIRECT COSTS WHICH COMPRISE A LARGE PORTION OF MANUFACTURING COSTS IN THOSE SYSTEMS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ISTO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF AUTOMATICALLY SCHEDULING MULTI-MACHINE COMPLEXES ON A REAL-TIME BASIS AND IMPLEMENTING A UNIFIED COMPUTER SYSTEM TO PROVIDE NEW SCHEDULING TOOLS IN AUTOMATED SYSTEMS. WE WILL INVESTIGATE REAL-TIME SCHEDULING BY SEPARATING SCHEDULE GENERATION AND REGENERATION TASKS FROM SCHEDULE ADAPTATION/RECOVERY TASKS. WE WILL EXPLORE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HEURISTICS TO AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINE VARIABLE RESCHEDULING PERIODS, SCHEDULE ADAPTATION/RECOVERY PROCEDURES, AND SCHEDULE REGENERATION PROCEDURES. THIS RESEARCH WIL LEAD TO A NEW PRODUCT FAMILY FOR FACTROL, INC. AND IS MOTIVATED BY USER REQUIREMENTS DERIVED FROM APPLICATIONS OF OUR CURRENT PRODUCT, FACTOR, WHICH PROVIDES SHOP FLOOR SCHEDULING TOOLS.FACTOR HAS BEEN APPLIED SUCCESSFULLY IN AUTOMATED SYSTEMS, AND WILL SERVE AS AN IMPORTANT EXPERIMENTAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE RESEARCH.