Efficient Scheduling Rule for Robotic Flexible Assembly Cells Based on Fuzzy Approach

Abstract

This study aims to develop an efficient rule for scheduling robotic flexible assembly cells (RFACs). The proposed scheduling rule is called fuzzy sequencing rule (FSR) which is constructed by combining different input variables: processing time, due date, batch size and number of required assembly stations, using the fuzzy logic (FL) technique. Two independent performance measures are considered: makespan and maximum of tardiness. Simulation software named SIMPROCESS is used to examine the performance of FSR compared with existing scheduling rules. Simulation results show that the proposed rule outperforms the common scheduling rules.