Using simulation and multi-criteria methods to provide robust solutions to dispatching problems in a flow shop with multiple processors
Dispatching rules are important to the performance of a manufacturing system. Selective applications of different priority rules at different processing stages in a multiple workstation manufacturing system have a positive impact on shop performance. This type of problem is a combinatorial dispatching decision. However, no dispatching rule can consistently produce better performance than all other rules under a variety of operating conditions and criteria. It is the purpose of this study to provide a robust solution for a dispatching decision that will have 'good' performance under different operating scenarios. In this paper a simulation case of a flow shop with multiple processors is proposed, specifically a multi-layer ceramic capacitor manufacturing system. Two multiple criteria decision-making methods-techniques for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) - in combination with Taguchi orthogonal array are used to find the most suitable dispatching rule for every workstation. The results show that for 15 production scenarios and 4 criteria this combinatorial dispatching rule is robust, in the sense that it outperforms other commonly employed strategies. (C) 2007 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
simulation flow shop with multiple processors topsis ahp taguchi orthogonal array