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A Simulation Model for Transport in a Grid-based Manufacturing System

Authors:
Leo van Moergestel
Erik Puik
Daniel Telgen
Mathijs Kuijl
Bas Alblas
Jaap Koelewijn
John-Jules Meyer

Keywords: Multiagent-based manufacturing; Flexible transport

Abstract:
Standard mass-production is a well-known manufac- turing concept. To make small quantities or even single items of a product according to user specifications at an affordable price, alternative agile production paradigms should be investigated and developed. The system presented in this paper is based on a grid of cheap reconfigurable production units, called equiplets. A grid of these equiplets is capable to produce a variety of different products in parallel at an affordable price. The underlying agent-based software for this system is responsible for the agile manufacturing. An important aspect of this type of manufacturing is the transport of the products along the available equiplets. This transport of the products from equiplet to equiplet is quite different from standard production. Every product can have its own unique path along the equiplets. In this paper several topologies are discussed and investigated. Also, the planning and scheduling in relation to the transport constraints is subject of this study. Some possibilities of realization are discussed and simulations are used to generate results with the focus on efficiency and usability for different topologies and layouts of the grid and its internal transport system.

Pages: 1 to 7

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2014

Publication date: June 22, 2014

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4065

ISBN: 978-1-61208-352-0

Location: Seville, Spain

Dates: from June 22, 2014 to June 26, 2014