Tool requirements in manufacturing systems under dynamic tool sharing

This paper addresses a tooling problem in automated manufacturing systems under dynamic tool assignment policy. In this type of systems, while parts stay on a machine all through its operations, the tools required (but not available on the machine) are delivered in time for requirements. The system performance is restricted to a great extent by tooling constraints. This paper presents an analytical method to determine tool requirement levels under dynamic production environment. The appropriate tool duplication levels are determined by trading off tool duplication levels and tool waiting time. Simulation studies are used to verify the performance of the proposed analytical model. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.