Hierarchical control structures for multi-cell flexible assembly system co-ordination

Recently, there has been substantial interest in multi-stage, multi-cell Flexible Assembly Systems for Electronic (Printed Circuit Board) Assembly. Previous work (Akella et.al 1984: Gershwin et.al. 1985; Akella and Kumar, 1986) has concerned real-time dispatch in single cells. There has also been related work on design and production allocation in multi-cell systems by Yao and Shanthikumar (1985, 1986). Here, we formulate and compute approximate solutions to a generic multi-cell, failure prone system with a hierarchical control system.