Optimal dwell point location of automated guided vehicles to minimize mean response time in a loop layout
- 1 January 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in International Journal of Production Research
- Vol. 39 (17), 4013-4031
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00207540110054605
Abstract
An important control issue in operating an automated guided vehicle system is where to locate idle vehicles. Dwell points for idle vehicles affect the performance of manufacturing systems. A polynomial time algorithm has been developed to determine dwell points for idle automated guided vehicles that minimize the mean response time. Both uni- and bidirectional loop layouts are considered. The proposed algorithm, based on a dynamic programming model, partitions the set of pick-up stations into subsets so that a single vehicle serves all stations in a subset. The dynamic programming algorithm has been streamlined by applying certain optimality properties. Computational results show that the proposed algorithm can solve large-scale problems in a reasonable time. A simulation experiment has also been conducted to compare several idle vehicle positioning rules, and the results show that best performance is obtained by positioning idle vehicles in dwell points that minimize the mean response time.This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dynamic relative positioning of AGVs in a loop layout to minimize mean system response timeInternational Journal of Production Research, 1996
- Positioning of automated guided vehicles in a loop layout to minimize the mean vehicle response timeInternational Journal of Production Economics, 1995
- Positioning of automated guided vehicles in a loop layout to improve response timeEuropean Journal of Operational Research, 1993
- Tandem Configurations for Automated Guided Vehicle Systems and the Analysis of Single Vehicle LoopsIIE Transactions, 1991
- Pull versus push strategy for automated guided vehicle load movement in a batch manufacturing systemJournal of Manufacturing Systems, 1987
- Potentials for bi-directional guide-path for automated guided vehicle based systemsInternational Journal of Production Research, 1986
- Optimal Center Location in Simple NetworksTransportation Science, 1971
- Optimum Locations of Switching Centers and the Absolute Centers and Medians of a GraphOperations Research, 1964