The design of an AGV in the manufacturing cell

An automated material handling system is a must for an automated production system. An AGV (automated guided vehicle) therefore is one of the promising carriers used in the production line as a link between stations. However, an algorithm for determination number of AGVs required to satisfy the production is not quite prevalent and sometimes it is complicated. This paper aims to demonstrate a calculation of AGV required and then to verify the result by a simulation program. It is found that this proposed methodology is very useful and applicable for an early stage design of AGV. In the study case with 15 stations and elapse time ranging from 7 to 233 minutes. The required number of AGV is 8 units with 87.76% utilization and 3.44 second system waiting time.