Optimal location of dwell points in a single loop AGV system with time restrictions on vehicle availability

José A. Ventura, Brian Q. Rieksts

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

Since the workload of a manufacturing system changes over time, the material handling equipment used in the facility will be idle at certain time intervals to avoid system overload. In this context, a relevant control problem in operating an automated guided vehicle (AGV) system is where to locate idle vehicles. These locations, called dwell points, establish the response times for AVG requests. In this article, a dynamic programming algorithm to solve idle vehicle positioning problems in unidirectional single loop systems is developed to minimize the maximum response time considering restrictions on vehicle time available to travel and load/unload requests. This polynomial time algorithm finds optimal dwell points when all requests from a given pick-up station are handled by a single AGV. The proposed algorithm is used to study the change in maximum response time as a function of the number of vehicles in the system.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)93-104
Number of pages12
JournalEuropean Journal of Operational Research
Volume192
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2009

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Computer Science
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Management Science and Operations Research
  • Information Systems and Management

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Optimal location of dwell points in a single loop AGV system with time restrictions on vehicle availability'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this