Deterministic timed event graphs for performance optimization of cyclic manufacturing processes

A model of a cyclic manufacturing system representable as a deterministic timed event graph is considered in this paper. It is possible to apply analytical techniques for performance evaluation of such systems. On this basis, a two-level optimization problem is considered. The higher level refers to the maximization of the system productivity with respect to the assignment of operations to machines, the lot sizes, and the service sequences at the various machines, assuming that unlimited work-in-progress and buffers of finite dimension are available. The lower level deals with the minimization of an aggregate cost taking into account the work-in-progress and the buffer dimensions.