A Production Sequencing Model for a Decision Support System

The sequencing of production is a complex activity due to its combinatory nature. Due that, priority rules are often used in order to reach the optimum sequencing. In spite of minimizing the number of production sequences obtained, these rules take a few characteristics of the production system and/or product into consideration, such as date of delivery, processing time, etc. The technique of simulation is then used to find the sequence that is more adequate to the production process, because it overcomes the limitations of the priority rules. However, the simulation technique presents one difficulty: depending on the number of products to be processed, the number of production sequences to be simulated gets too large. To solve these problems, this paper presents a sequencing of production model for a flexible manufacturing system. The purpose is to minimize the number of production sequences, which are simulated by decision-makers when non-programmed events take place in the production system. This way, we can save time with the simulation and, therefore, this model can be applied to a real problem, without several looses for the industry when they need quick decision-making.