Autonomous Scheduling and Routing System to Maximize Machine Shop Throughput

Scheduling and Routing are very crucial variables which affect the throughput of the system. Scheduling and Routing decide ‘When’ and ‘Where’ the activity will be done. Researched system is collective use of computational techniques with machine data integration for optimum scheduling and routing of material on shop floor. This is done by amalgamating traditional techniques and methodologies with modern computational solutions. This autonomous system deployed in and for the industry is hard wired using ESP32 and Raspberry Pi 4 (8GB). This system monitors and reports using the microcontroller circuit based on inputs of machines and stores it. This data is then used to analyze the shop floor and take required decisions. This system is designed to integrate 3 CNC lathe machines, 2 Vertical Machining Center machines and a Horizontal Machining Center for continuous computing and reporting of the machines. The idea is quite simple; the data from the machines is mapped on to a standard data frame defined in Raspberry Pi through ESP32 and finally computed as per the algorithm defined. Raspberry Pi is given capability to display the results real time on its display protocol or share them over its serial or wireless interfaces. The system performance is highlighted by the approximate 9.5% actual time saving in contrast to the theoretical master schedule which suggested 12.643% over the traditional schedule of the company.