Integrated Analytical Modeling for Production Systems Coupled With Material Handling Systems

Production system modeling is critical for design, control, analysis, and management of manufacturing systems. Conventionally, many researchers make two major assumptions when the production system modeling is conducted: 1) the first machine is never starved, and 2) the last machine is never blocked. These assumptions actually separate the production system from the material handling system. However, the production system is practically coupled with the material handling system due to the integrated nature of these two systems. In this paper, the above two crucial assumptions are relaxed and a new modeling method for the production system coupled with a material handling system is introduced. The algorithm derived is based on the fixed-point theory and the obstructions of modeling this coupled system are discussed. The results from numerical studies indicate that the proposed modeling method could effectively describe the coupled system performance.