Fuzzy dispatching of automated guided vehicles

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) are commonly used to transfer parts in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). AGV dispatching deals with assigning vehicles to move parts based on the relationship between AGV and parts availability. The dispatching method influences the performance of the FMS and can lead to cost saving and improvement. The production environment is complex and the dispatching decision is sometimes vague and obscure. To deal with such complicated environments a fuzzy logic dispatching model has been developed. The fuzzy dispatching model was compared to conventional dispatching rules through simulations of different systems. Three types of systems were tested: high volume, medium volume and small volume. Each system was examined with different production rates and AGV numbers. Simulation results indicated that fuzzy dispatching is superior to the other tested dispatching rules, especially in high and medium volume systems.