During recent decades, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) from computer science, psychology and linguistics has created a great impact on the design and implementation of process planning systems. This article provides a review of the state‐of‐the‐art AI‐based automated...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of selected scheduling dispatching rules on the performance of an actual CIM system using different performance measures and to compare the results with the literature. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this objective, a computer...

Purpose – To examine and analyze the decision process that a firm undergoes for acquiring an advanced manufacturing system to obtain manufacturing flexibility for its operations. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is used to examine these decision processes. A conceptual...

Global competition has made it necessary for many firms to introduce such advanced technologies as Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS). However, the extent of such technology applications varies from industry to industry and has met various degrees of success. Reviews the impetus for the...

An important issue in the design of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is the operational control of the materials handling subsystem, through which reparts are conveyed from one work station to the next. A popular type of materials handling device is the automatic guided vehicle (AGV), which...

The potential benefits that a firm can expect from an automated factory, the economic justification and the steps for implementing flexible manufacturing systems are discussed. Some British companies are used as case examples. They all point to the need for the UK to implement the automated...