Review of operator/machine interference models

Abstract

A practical problem of significant importance for many manufacturing systems is machine interference. Interference is undesirable and unnecessary machine idleness that is caused by allowing one (or more) operator(s) to tend several machines. When the service demands of machines are not synchronized, both operators and machines can experience interference. Interference obviously decreases the productivity of a manufacturing system. Most interference models are designed to attempt to minimize the cost of interference, or simply the interference itself. In this paper, we survey the literature and classify various interference problems, models and associated assumptions, and solution techniques. Theoretical results are given. Industrial applications of the models that have been reported in the literature are also described. Finally, future applications of such interference models to robotics and flexible manufacturing systems are outlined.