Concurrent Production Engineering System for Buffer Size Decision and FTL Layout Design

In this paper we propose a Concurrent Production Engineering System (COPES) for the flexible transfer line (FTL) layout design in a restricted area. COPES first determines the buffer size in front of the bay of each machine tool in the FTL and then initializes a computer aided design (CAD) system to draw the FTL in a restricted area. We develop a set of modules systems which have been integrated into a single framework, in accordance with the practice of concurrent engineering. Concurrent engineering involves the cooperation of these activities. It´s expected that the developed COPES can improve the cooperation between production engineers´ and the plant designer. This can be done by enabling the production engineers´ to make better decision regarding FTL buffer size