Development of a Simulation-Based Intelligent Decision Support System for the Adaptive Real-Time Control of Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Babak Shirazi, Iraj Mahdavi, Maghsud Solimanpur

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DOI: 10.4236/jsea.2010.37076                

Abstract

This paper describes a simulation-based intelligent decision support system (IDSS) for real time control of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) with machine and tool flexibility. The manufacturing processes involved in FMS are complicated since each operation may be done by several machining centers. The system design approach is built around the theory of dynamic supervisory control based on a rule-based expert system. The paper considers flexibility in operation assignment and scheduling of multi-purpose machining centers which have different tools with their own efficiency. The architecture of the proposed controller consists of a simulator module coordinated with an IDSS via a real time event handler for implementing inter-process synchronization. The controller’s performance is validated by benchmark test problem.

Keywords

Intelligent Decision Support System, Real Time Control, Flexible Manufacturing System, Multi-Purpose Machining Centers

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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