A framework for production planning and scheduling in FMC

This paper describes a framework for dynamic planning and scheduling in the context of Flexible Manufacturing Cells. Traditionally, these tasks are carried out on a regular basis at long or medium planning horizons, disregarding the fact that initial working conditions may change during the production stage. But highly automated systems like FMS are often subject to disturbances that force to revise the most carefully elaborated plans. A framework to solve this problem has been defined, comprising, among others, three elements, which are described in further detail, namely, a Strategies Selector, a Reactive Module and an On-line Simulator. These elements ensure the consideration of context-dependent control rules, accurate calculations of the start and finish times of the jobs, along with time-limited solutions. A prototype of this framework has been developed at the Industrial Engineering School of Bilbao.