Abstract
In the study of automated guided vehicles systems (AGVS), one assumption often made in the management of vehicles is the existence of either home locations or a circulatory loop to buffer or hold idle vehicles. A review of AGVS literature reveals that different researchers pursue one idle vehicle management policy or the other. In some studies, idle vehicles are assumed to circulate in some loops in the system while others assume they are routed to some dwell point locations where they are held until they are reassigned. When the dwell point option is implemented, different strategies for implementation are also available. However, what is generally lacking in references to dwell point strategies are the techniques for selecting the optimal or best dwell points for a given facility. In this study, the problem of dwell point or home location specification is addressed. The problem was modelled mathematically to determine the optimal home locations. The emphasis in the paper is on a unidirectional AGVS guide path. The criterion of optimization employed is the minimization of the system response time to vehicle demand points when dispatched from home locations. Solution methodologies are presented and example problems solved to illustrate the applications of the models presented.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 543-562 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | International Journal of Production Research |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 15 2000 |
Externally published | Yes |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Strategy and Management
- Management Science and Operations Research
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering