A NEW LOWER BOUND FOR SCHEDULING OF FMS BASED ON AGV MATERIAL HANDLING

Abstract This paper addresses the simultaneous job input sequencing and vehicle dispatching problems in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) using a single device Automated Guided Vehicle System (AGVS). A Branch and Bound approach based on simulation has been previously developed. However, efficient easily computable lower bounds are still required to provide solutions for small and medium size problems. In this paper a new lower bound is proposed and benchmarks proved that this lower bound outperforms the lower bound previously published.