Facility Design & Configuration in Flexible Manufacturing Systems

WA19.1 The Facility Layout: Who Cares? The Production System, That's Who! Russell D. Meller --- Auburn Univ., Dept. of IE, 308 Dunstan Hall, Auburn, AL 36849-5346, (rmeller@eng.auburn.edu)

The significance of a facility layout is derived from the fact that¨ it is the substrate upon which a production system functions. Yet,¨ by the time we solve the facility layout problem, little detail¨ remains with respect to the production system besides aggregate flow¨ data. Does this matter? Let's investigate.

WA19.2 On Facilities Layout Using Virtual Reality P. Banerjee --- Univ. of IL, Dept. of Mech. Eng., Chicago, IL 60607-7022, (banerjee@uic.edu)

User interfaces, data modeling and model performance on a virtual¨ reality implementaiton of facilities layout will be discussed and¨ issues related to telecollaboration using such a model presented.

WA19.3 An Integrated Approach to Solving the Facility Layout & AGV Flowpath Design Sunderesh S. Heragu, Srinivasan Rajagopalan --- RPI, Dept. of DSES, Troy, NY 12180 , (herags@rpi.edu)

Facility layout and material handling system design, the 2 main¨ issues in any manufacturing plant, have always been treated as¨ separate problems and solved. We develop an integrated approach to¨ these problems resulting in a more effective manufacturing facility.

WA19.4 An Integrated Framework for Strategic Design & Configuration of Flexible Manufacturing Facilities Maheswaran Rajasekharan, Brett Peters --- TX A&M Univ., Dept. of IE, College Station, TX 77843-3131,

Flexible manufacturing facility configuration is a key strategy for¨ improving market responsiveness when product demand and mix are¨ uncertain. An integrated framework to analyze tradeoffs between¨ benefits of flexible technology facilities and higher investment¨ costs. We introduce an integrated model for determining the facility¨ configuration, technology and flexible automation level considering¨ stochastic product demand.