MPA project

Introduction

Todo.

ASRS case study

The production system involves the structural features (e.g. the presence of equipment) and the technological features (e.g. processes supported by this equipment).
The production system is a scaled-down version of an existing factory (confidentiality prevents the use of an exact representation). Regarding structural features, the production plant is a job shop, containing workstations, intended to produce the long parts of weaving machines.

As indicated in the figure, the plant consists out of four workstations, a transporting unit and a warehouse. The transporting unit moves containers, each containing an order, throughout the production system. All workstations and warehouse slots are connected to the transporting unit. In addition, the transporting unit is connected to the entrance and the exit of the plant. It is capable of
transporting a container from and to all its connected units, i.e. the warehouse, the workstations, the entrance and the exit.

The warehouse consists out of several storing places (storage slots). The warehouse can hold 12 containers in total. Three out of four workstations in the plant are milling machines. Two milling machines, W3664 and W3665 are capable of fine milling. The third
milling machine, W3824, is only capable of rough milling. The fourth and last machine, W9038 is a cleaning station: the long parts are cleaned there after they have been milled.
The technological features definition provides the process plans that can be performed in the job shop. The process plan in this scenario consists out of three steps: Milling Rough, Milling Fine and Cleaning. Some operations can be performed on more than one machine, but their sequence cannot be altered.